Explore this animal in Size of Extinct Animals ↗
566 / Cenozoic
Inkayacu
Inkayacu paracasensis
A near-human-height diving bird preserves feathers and melanosomes that opened direct study of ancient penguin color.
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 Inkayacu?
Inkayacu (Inkayacu paracasensis) was an extinct organism known from About 36 million years ago, with a range in Warm Pacific coast · Peru.
Life and ecology
It propelled itself after fish along warm coasts before establishment of today's cold current system.
02 / DISAPPEARANCE
Why did Inkayacu disappear?
Its record, about 36 million years old, is Eocene; later Oligocene changes in currents and climate cannot explain its disappearance, whose cause is not established.
03 / EVIDENCE
How do scientists know about Inkayacu?
An associated skeleton, flippers and feather impressions preserve melanosomes; exact color remains affected by fossilization.
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