Every lady loves a sharp dressed man
June 29, 2007 9:09 AM   Subscribe

GIANT PENGUINS! The discovery in 2005 of fossils in Peru is challenging previous views about the evolution of penguins. They were tall, fast, and enjoyed being smacked by cavemen*.

* may not be true
posted by Stynxno (31 comments total)
 
Penguin evolution is a fib!

Also, the Earth isn't round. Yep! Shaped like a burrito!
posted by Wolfdog at 9:18 AM on June 29, 2007 [3 favorites]


Ah, Wolfdog you beat me to it you hairless ape you.
posted by edgeways at 9:23 AM on June 29, 2007


Mom?
posted by Mblue at 9:28 AM on June 29, 2007


I'm having nun of it.
posted by hell toupee at 9:44 AM on June 29, 2007 [1 favorite]


that game is more fun than it ought to be.
posted by carmen at 9:49 AM on June 29, 2007


I'd never seen the Amercian Museum of Natural History site before, good stuff.
posted by zeoslap at 9:49 AM on June 29, 2007


Tekil-li-li!
posted by ursus_comiter at 9:49 AM on June 29, 2007


This was probably released just to promote some upcoming penguin-themed movie. Why no love for the narwhal?
posted by NationalKato at 9:51 AM on June 29, 2007


I thought it was "every girl crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man."
posted by psmealey at 9:57 AM on June 29, 2007


308 yards. I was made to club cute things.
posted by hermitosis at 10:05 AM on June 29, 2007


316.6 yards and damn right that game is more fun then it ought to be.
posted by hexxed at 10:13 AM on June 29, 2007


322.9, soon to be topped by the next commenter.
posted by davejay at 10:18 AM on June 29, 2007


317.1
posted by yhbc at 10:20 AM on June 29, 2007


damn
posted by yhbc at 10:20 AM on June 29, 2007 [1 favorite]


GIANT PENGUINS!

Well... 5 feet tall penguins are only marginally bigger than the 4 foot tall Emperor Penguins we still enjoy today. There would probably be a lot of size overlap in fact.
posted by dgaicun at 10:22 AM on June 29, 2007


LA Times:

The newly discovered giant penguin is not the tallest — that honor goes to a 6 1/2 -foot penguin fossil found on an island near Antarctica

Ok, that'd prolly be pretty intimidating. Especially any marching there of.
posted by dgaicun at 10:30 AM on June 29, 2007


I am thinking of what it would be like to accidentally come across a giant penguin. I imagine my response would be something like "holy shit!" The penguin, most likely, would just stare.

And then it would be me and a giant penguin. Hanging out.

That could be alright.
posted by blacklite at 10:38 AM on June 29, 2007 [4 favorites]


I've always wanted to be friends with a robot, but on consideration, a giant penguin would be a fine substitute.
posted by parallax7d at 10:47 AM on June 29, 2007 [1 favorite]


Scott of the Antarctic, er the GIANT PENGUIN bit happens at around 10:40, but the rest is mint as well.
Great, great!
posted by edgeways at 10:50 AM on June 29, 2007


5 feet tall penguins are only marginally bigger than the 4 foot tall Emperor Penguins we still enjoy today. There would probably be a lot of size overlap in fact.

Four feet of overlap, by my calculations.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:05 AM on June 29, 2007


Giant penguins? Excellent, this will work into my plans perfectly...

*steeples fingers*

Bwahahaha
posted by quin at 11:27 AM on June 29, 2007


Hey, but a 6 1/2 foot tall penguin would be a SHOO-IN for the Billy Madison sequel...
posted by tadellin at 11:29 AM on June 29, 2007


If we increase the size of the penguin until it is the same height as the man and then compare the relative brain size, we now find that the penguin's brain is still smaller. But, and this is the point, it is larger than it was.
posted by cerebus19 at 11:33 AM on June 29, 2007


You're all looking at it backwards. Today we have miniature penguins. Hopefully this shrinking trend will continue until we have adorable palm-sized ones.
posted by Sangermaine at 12:29 PM on June 29, 2007


adorable palm-sized penguin
posted by LordSludge at 12:54 PM on June 29, 2007


323.5!!!!!
posted by garethspor at 1:01 PM on June 29, 2007


I'm surprised no one has yet mentioned the obvious (only?) literary reference to oversized penguins...

Suddenly a bulky white shape loomed up ahead of us, and we flashed on the second torch. It is odd how wholly this new quest had turned our minds from earlier fears of what might lurk near. Those other ones, having left their supplies in the great circular place, must have planned to return after their scouting trip toward or into the abyss; yet we had now discarded all caution concerning them as completely as if they had never existed. This white, waddling thing was fully six feet high, yet we seemed to realize at once that it was not one of those others. They were larger and dark, and, according to the sculptures, their motion over land surfaces was a swift, assured matter despite the queerness of their sea-born tentacle equipment. But to say that the white thing did not profoundly frighten us would be vain. We were indeed clutched for an instant by primitive dread almost sharper than the worst of our reasoned fears regarding those others. Then came a flash of anticlimax as the white shape sidled into a lateral archway to our left to join two others of its kind which had summoned it in raucous tones. For it was only a penguin - albeit of a huge, unknown species larger than the greatest of the known king penguins, and monstrous in its combined albinism and virtual eyelessness.

-- Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness
posted by pandaharma at 1:38 PM on June 29, 2007


[the only literary reference to oversized penguins?]
Apparently you didn't really get the subtext to Hamlet.
posted by Wolfdog at 3:15 PM on June 29, 2007


Ivan Sanderson and the 15 foot tall penguin. (Self link)
posted by Tube at 7:25 PM on June 29, 2007


321 -- but I still suck at this.

Doesn't seem to be any middle ground for me. I hit it in (or close) to the 300's about 50 percent of the time, and either whiff or get way below 100 the rest of the time.
posted by RavinDave at 2:22 PM on June 30, 2007


And then it would be me and a giant penguin. Hanging out.

Kinda like this. (that's my boyfriend. on the left, not the penguin.)
posted by shelleycat at 7:10 PM on June 30, 2007


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