Seas of the Past: Sea Emperor of Paracas by Austroraptor on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Inkayacu paracasensis is a very notable species of giant penguin, not only for its magnificent size (Since in that regard, it's surpassed by the even larger Anthropornis), reaching over 1.5 meters tall, but for the fact that it is one of the very few extinct penguins of which we have (partial) evidence of their true coloration of and surprise, it looked very different from any modern penguins.
Unlike it's modern relatives, who all garb themselves in their characteristic black and white "Smoking" patterns, Incayaku shows evidence of being primarily Grey with Ruddy Brown undersides, indicating that not all extinct penguins followed the "Black and White" pattern rule.

Incayaku lived in what would one day be the southern coast of Peru during the late Eocene, long before the andes had risen and when the region looked more like a sunny tropical paradise than the cold semi desert it looks like today. Alongside them lived a panoply of other very interesting creatures, such as other similarly sized giant penguins Icadyptes salasi and Perudyptes.