Paleontologists Unearth Giant Fossilized Penguin 124
Ponca City, We Love You writes "The BBC reports that scientists have discovered the 36-million-year-old fossil of a penguin nearly five feet tall and almost twice the weight of an Emperor Penguin, the largest living species. 'The heavier the penguin, the deeper it dives,' says Julia Clarke, a palaeontologist at the University of Texas. 'If that holds true for any penguins, then the dive depths achieved by these giant forms would've been very different.' The bird, named Inkayacu paracasensis, or water king, lived during the late Eocene period and had a long, straight beak, much longer than that of its modern relatives. But, most surprisingly, the giant penguin's feathers were brown and gray, distinct from the black 'tuxedo'"
Reader SpuriousLogic notes that it's also getting easier to keep an eye on modern penguins, since Google has extended Street View to Antarctica.
Climate Change (Score:2, Funny)
Why aren't there giant penguins around today? It must be due to global warming...
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While rossdee was clearly trolling with his comment, his subject line actually does hit the nail right on the head. The reason why giant penguins aren't around today is precisely because the climate has changed to one that isn't suitable for them.
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Which should serve as a warning...
So short of being killed off by humans, the only reason a species becomes extinct is because of climate change?
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Is it possible that the giant penguins were really good eating for ice-age Colonel Sanders?
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Of course climate change is not the only reason species go extinct. Individual species go extinct for all sorts of reasons.
But there have been several mass extinction events in the past that global climate change played a role in. Even if it was an asteroid strike or a flood basalt volcanic eruption that was the specific cause the result was climate changes that species couldn't adapt to.
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Clearly not. Being out-competed, disease, various disasters, etc, can do a species in. Of course some disasters could be considered as rapid/local/global climate change.
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While rossdee was clearly trolling with his comment, his subject line actually does hit the nail right on the head. The reason why giant penguins aren't around today is precisely because the climate has changed to one that isn't suitable for them.
Do you have any evidence for that? It might be that they moved too slow on land and made excellent meals for predators at the time. Or perhaps they even evolved into the Emperor penguins of today, because they might have started to get smaller (they only need to lose a foot in size). The article does state '...evidence of a rich diversity of giant penguin species in the late Eocene period of low-latitude Peru.' so there may have been competition amongst penguin species for food supplies which ended up wi
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Why aren't there giant penguins around today?
Brown feet that did not go with the tuxedo motif?
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Why aren't there giant penguins around today? It must be due to global warming...
Nah, they've just been working on trimming the code a lot. If you thought the Linux kernel's bloated NOW, you don't know what they had before.
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Why aren't there giant penguins around today?
Because the newer compact models could fit into smaller spaces?
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Because they created too much gas....
And this relates to Linux... how? (Score:2, Funny)
And this relates to Linux... how?
Re:And this relates to Linux... how? (Score:5, Funny)
When they analyzed that penguin's DNA, they found that it contained a Linux kernel.
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Except that GNU tools, including gcc, were used to create the Linux kernel.
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Praise the Stallman, all ye hackers (Score:2)
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No, Apple isn't.
A while ago, I decided that insisting on calling the operating system GNU/Linux was not a good idea. As some have pointed out, there are a lot of FLOSS projects that are critical to contemporary Linux, and stringing together a list of those projects would end up with a ridiculous name. Linux is short, clear, memorable, and understood, and it refers to the kernel, the one common component that will be present in any Linux distribution. The "GNU/Linux" argument seems petulant.
On the other hand
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DNA is Deoxyribonucleic acid. What does acid do? It melts things. If we were really made of acid then how come we don't melt?
Gosh, MS and Apple fans must be bitter (Score:4, Insightful)
Lets face it, Apple with a bite out of it might be a clever logo but it is hardly going to get "Awh's" from the girls is it. And the windows logo? Most people don't even know what it is. Those who know fear to mention it afraid of any linkage between broken windows, the fragility of glass and MS software.
But Linux, we got the tuxedoed one. And every single time penguins are in the news, we can link it to linux. And giant killer penguins are awesome things!
Oh yeah, I forgot the BSD people. A naked underaged devil. Least said...
Windows tattoo (Score:2)
OK, a broken window may not be such a great logo, but do you know anyone who has a Linux tattoo [charlespetzold.com]?
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Yes. [ugo.com] Fear the penguin.
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Suddenly, I feel the urge to scrub my eyes.
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From the summary:
But, most surprisingly, the giant penguin's feathers were brown and gray
Clearly that means Ubuntu's color-scheme of brown (older releases) and purple/gray (newer releases) are just devolutions of GNU/Linux into a distribution twice the size of any other. Duh!
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Paging Mr. Lovecraft (Score:2)
Were these giant penguins blind and albino?
clone it! (Score:5, Funny)
We need to clone it. We need 5ft killer penguins with long beaks and mean attitudes in our fight against proprietary software.
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So, basically we need a beowulf cluster of killer penguins?
Re:clone it! (Score:5, Insightful)
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With fricken lasers attached to their heads!
And then the blood could go "psssshhhhhhhht" in slow motion...
Penguins = Tuxedo Gentlemen (Score:1)
Monty Python's giant penguin (Score:2)
Didn't I see this on a Monty Python episode? Except, the penguin was more like 50 feet high . . .
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No, that one had electric tentacles and lived in the Sahara. They're still waiting to dig that one up.
and... (Score:2, Funny)
Oh, No, There Goes McMurdo... (Score:1)
How soon... (Score:4, Funny)
...before we start seeing pictures of Jesus riding one of these?
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Audio interview on Quirks and Quarks (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/episode/2010/10/02/october-2-2010/ [www.cbc.ca]
Street view? (Score:2)
Reader SpuriousLogic notes that it's also getting easier to keep an eye on modern penguins, since Google has extended Street View to Antarctica.
Not so much "street view", more like a "tourist with a camera taking photos of penguins along with some other tourists view".
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of those... (Score:3, Funny)
Imagine cleaning up after a Beowulf cluster of those...
Tagged Fossil (Score:1)
In other news... (Score:2, Informative)
Big penguins in the past doesn't seem to be totally unheard of. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeeudyptinae
The find (Score:1)
The fossil was uncovered when a large remnant of what appears to be a pre-historic version of a chair was removed from the top of its head.
The chair was carved out of stone.
Brown and Gray Feathers (Score:5, Funny)
But, most surprisingly, the giant penguin's feathers were brown and gray, distinct from the black 'tuxedo
Why is that surprising? It was 36 million years ago. There were big furry elephants and lizards the size of houses in prehistoric times.
Re:Brown and Gray Feathers (Score:5, Funny)
Penguins were not as formal way back then and adopted much more casual dress of Brown double breasted suit with baggy cuffed trouser, a Huge 'Fedora' and wide tie.
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A Fedora but no Red Hat? How come?
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You'll need to ask Agent Perry.
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Finally (Score:5, Funny)
Finally, I have reason to point out that despite this being slashdot, I didn't choose this name because I like linux (although I do, the name came from before I started using it or signed up for slashdot), I chose it because I like penguins!
I have a degree in geology but never took any paleontology courses... I knew I should have, then I'd be able to comment on this important scientific discovery... er... make that, this important... linux development? I'm confused.
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It is entirely in-line with the discovery of the Norwegian Blue parrot which was, indeed, dead. Very. Though nailing a fossil to the perch might have been difficult.
Looks like (Score:5, Funny)
Linux? (Score:2)
OK, so how is the discovery of a new penguin species in any way relevant to Linux? What was the submitter (or the editor) smoking?
Re:Linux? (Score:4, Funny)
It's all related, man. Penguins... Tux... Linux... Linus.... The government doesn't want you to know The Truth. There's some bizarre shit going down with the penguins of the world. I think - based on years of academic research - that the REAL Atlantis was actually the Penguin Homeland. I think Linus knows, too. I think he was sent into the future - OUR TIME, MAN - to teach the world the firm-but-loving discipline of Penguinism. The Singularity will only be possible because of Linux. THINK ABOUT IT. Penguin-powered Singularity. News stories like this are just preparing the world to accept the fact that our planet was once dominated by Penguin Overlords. Haven't you ever seen the MEN IN BLACK? Don't they look like penguins?! They're coming back, man. MEN IN BLACK = TUXEDOS = TUX. They are the Penguin Overlords' invasion force. Ever see that episode of Star Trek Voyager "Distant Origin?" It's like that! But instead of dinosaurs, it's penguins. They're coming back, man. There's a distant planet filled with penguins and they are just waiting to come back and
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They're coming back, man. There's a distant planet filled with penguins and they are just waiting to come back and
and what? Are you okay? Please respond. Should I wait for the penguin on the telly?
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Name fail (Score:2)
"Holy shitballs Ricky, they discovered a PANSQUANCH!!"
Its a sign... (Score:1)
Great800 Grandpa???? (Score:1)
Oblig.. (Score:3, Funny)
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Actually pretty old Giant Penguin Overlords...
This is why I'm PRO climate change (Score:2)
Enthusiastically. Let me tell you why.
I'm always interested to see a new discovery like this in the Eocene.
The Eocene is such a cool epoch (and by cool I mean hot, followed by less hot) that I get excited whenever there's something newly discovered. In part because through modern technology, it really isn't so remote.
Through the miracle of anthropomorphic global warming the kind of world in which creatures like this thrived is within reach of our descendants, possibly within living memory.
Tropics replacing
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You mean 'anthropogenic' warming. You shouldn't call the warming 'anthropomorphic', it hates that.
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Whenever people bleat about climate change and talk about the wonders of carbon sequestration I think about the hadrosaurs (duck-billed, herbivorous dinosaurs).
They lived in huge migratory herds. Their nesting grounds have been found; thousands of huge nests in which they laid their eggs. The hatchings grew at an enormous rate, becoming ready to accompany the adults on very long migratory walks within months of hatching.
The growth rate of these things really struck me; where does all that dinosaur muscle an
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If you want to give it several million years to evolve the world you describe might be ok. If we force the change in less than 1000 years the main result is a mass extinction that takes a million or more years to recover from. That leave humans with much less diversity in the natural resources available. The modern equivalent of hadrosaurs would probably take at least 10,000 years or more to evolve.
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If you want to give it several million years to evolve the world you describe might be ok
Yeah sure, I try to take a long-term view of things.
People are so short sighted; democracies can only plan one election cycle ahead (4, maybe 8 years), dictatorships only a generation ahead (if that, but usually more far-sighted than democracies).
You got to see the big picture!
Prior Art (Score:2)
I think this penguin was first discovered by geologist William Dyer from the Miskatonic University. Shoggoths, fishmen and madness cannot be far behind.
John Belushi's worst nightmare! (Score:1)
Prophets! I bow down! (Score:2)
Penguin Computing had foretasted this:
http://www.commodore.ca/misc/jokes/Linux-vs-Microsoft.jpg [commodore.ca]
Apples are even older (Score:2)
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But around 2000 they got a huge gene transfer from the devil and other creatures.
Really? (Score:1)
I thought .. (Score:2)
batman killed it in 1992 [wikipedia.org]
Jurrasic Pengins... (Score:1)
coming soon to a theater near you.
brown and gray (Score:2)
But, most surprisingly, the giant penguin's feathers were brown and gray, distinct from the black 'tuxedo'
Surprise, surprise! A fossil is rock-colored! Maybe the original bird that got replaced by the fossil material was black and white?
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If you RTFA you see the color of the plumage was determined from microscopic structures in the fossilized feathers, the same structures that determine the color of modern birds feathers.
The color? (Score:1)
Finally (Score:1)
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Same here. Nice one.
Pics FTW (Score:2)
No pics? I'm shocked. Here's one. [premiere.com]
Re:Linux?! (Score:5, Informative)
No, not Linux.
This is just a cover story. For beyond the giant penguins resides the Plateau of Leng, the long-forgotten city of the Elder Things.
Beware! BEWARE!!!
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No, not Linux.
This is just a cover story. For beyond the giant penguins resides the Plateau of Leng, the long-forgotten city of the Elder Things.
Beware! BEWARE!!!
The best part about this is that someone modded you informative. I'm scared now...
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TEKELI-LI!
Damn, beat me to it. All I can say is "but these penguins were brown, not white". But that probably only means that these penguins spoke it with an accent. "Tekeli-li, y'all!"
7 Foot Penguin (Score:1)
Not sure what all of the excitement is about, my kids found a 7" penguin fossil in our backyard while we were digging holes to secure a trampoline. It cost me $85 to rent a Bobcat and over $100 to have some day workers haul it away to the dump.
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Ooops, never mind, my wife just advised me there are no penguins North of the Equator. I guess it was a chicken, then. Still, I'm furious at the original land developers that left a huge stone in the middle of my yard, cost a fortune to excavate it.