Fossilised penguin bones
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Fossilised penguin bones
This sketch is from an 1869 paper by James Hector, director of the New Zealand Geological Survey. He describes fossilised penguin bones found by telegraphist James Duigan at Seal Rock, Woodpecker Bay, near Punakaiki on the West Coast. Hector calls these remains Palaeeudyptes antarcticus, the name given to the first penguin fossil ever found. However they are now known to belong to a different species. The outline (centre) of a femur of the living Fiordland crested penguin gives a sense of its size.
About this item
Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Reference: James Hector, 'On the remains of a gigantic penguin.' Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 4 (1871): 347
Lithograph by J. Buchanan
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