A five-foot-tall fossil penguin with feathers

Something about a penguin fossil just makes me smile. So this one, which provides some feather coloration helping to figure out what it looks like, makes me smile even more.

Inkayacu, from Not Exactly Rocket Science (with illustrations)

To understand Inkayacu’s melanosomes, the team first had to analyse those of modern penguins. They found something completely new: the striking black colours of the living birds come from giant eumelanosomes that are around 50% wider than those of any other bird.

But none of Inkayacu’s melanosomes came close to these dimensions – no dinner jacket look for this bird. Instead, based on the size, shape, distribution and packing of its melanosomes, the team concluded that Inkayacu must have been gray or reddish-brown in colour. These colours are more commonly associated with baby penguins, but Inkayacu’s skeleton suggests that it was an adult.