Penguin subspecies evolved — then humans arrived
For thousands of years, penguins have darted through the waters of the southern oceans, chasing fish from the Galápagos to the Antarctic. Today there are around 20 penguin species, from the playful Adelie to the stately Emperor. But there once were others, including a previously unknown subspecies of dwarf yellow-eyed penguin in New Zealand.
It’s extinct, apparently wiped out by humans hundreds of years ago.
“We suspect that these Megadyptes penguins were on their way to becoming a full new species,” said Theresa Cole, a graduate student at University of Otago in New Zealand and co-author of a paper about this bird and another newly discovered extinct subspecies of crested penguin. “But they just didn’t get a chance, because people ate them.”
Cole and her colleagues sequenced DNA from many penguin species and built a family tree. The research, published Tuesday in the journal Molecular and Biological Evolution, led to the discovery of these two subspecies.
The dwarf yellow-eyed penguin and the new crested penguin were natives of the Chatham Islands in southern New Zealand. The bones of both penguins have been found in trash heaps that date back to when humans arrived there. Circumstances suggest the animals were cooked and eaten, and they soon went extinct.