Penguin fossils found near Christchurch, New Zealand, suggest a previously unknown genus of ancient penguins may have outlived the dinosaurs.
Ewan Fordyce, a University of Otago paleontologist who helped analyze the fossils that were discovered in the mid 1990s, told National Geographic News DNA and other modern tests suggest the 58-million- to 62-million-year-old bones make a "strong case" that modern birds appeared well before dinosaurs became extinct.
Study co-author David Penny, a geneticist at New Zealand's Massey University, estimates modern birds first appeared around 90 million years ago.
The study describing the ancient penguins and the associated theory of a dinosaur-era origin for modern birds appeared in last month's online issue of the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
