Explore this animal in Size of Extinct Animals ↗
461 / Cenozoic
Icadyptes
Icadyptes salasi
A one-and-a-half-meter penguin lived near the equator with a spear-like beak.
View original image · 1600 × 1067- Time range
- About 36 million years ago
- Final stage
- Late Eocene
- Geographic range
- Warm Pacific coast · Peru
01 / DEFINITION & ECOLOGY
What was Icadyptes?
Icadyptes (Icadyptes salasi) was an extinct organism known from About 36 million years ago, with a range in Warm Pacific coast · Peru.
Life and ecology
It wing-propelled underwater after fish and bred on shore.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Icadyptes disappear?
Cooling oceans, changing currents and penguin turnover are possible context; the fossil record does not establish why it disappeared.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Icadyptes?
A complete skull, long beak and partial skeleton preserve size and diving adaptations.
04 / SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Check the source record
Use the scientific name to compare taxonomy, occurrence records and the fossil record. Database coverage and classifications may differ.
05 / REVISION HISTORY
How has this record changed?
- Rewrote an extinction cause that presented environmental or faunal turnover as established; it is now given as context the record does not prove.
- Verified authoritative entity sources and added three responsive reconstruction sizes.
- Initial bilingual species record published.
06 / CORRECTIONS & ADDITIONS