The Peruvian penguin fossil that stood about 1.5 metres tall and had a giant bill is Icadyptes salasi.
Icadyptes salasi lived in Peru during the late Eocene, roughly 36 million years ago. Its fossil was found in the Otuma Formation on the southern Peruvian coast. The bird’s long, pointed bill was strikingly different from the shorter bills of many living penguins and suggests that ancient penguins occupied a wider range of body forms and feeding strategies.
The discovery showed that large penguins lived in relatively warm regions during a period when global temperatures were higher than today. This helped paleontologists reconsider the idea that penguin evolution was restricted to cold Antarctic environments.
Icadyptes was not the largest fossil penguin ever found. Some other prehistoric penguins, including Palaeeudyptes species, were considerably taller. It is important to use the full scientific name because “giant penguin” can refer to several unrelated fossil species. Icadyptes salasi is specifically associated with the Peruvian Eocene fossil and its unusually large bill.