Evolution of the modern Penguin
About 55 million years ago, penguins were already fully adapted to life in the water, in a warmer environment than today. After the disappearance of the dinosaurs, many marine reptiles also became extinct, but the penguins diversified or, in other words, slowly developed new species that occupied the ecological niches of some extinct animals. The evolution of modern penguins took place over approximately 3 million years.
One of the descendants of the basal penguin, named by scientists as "Penguin One", is the ancestor of all the penguins that now exist in the world, and lived about 34.2-47.6 million years ago. Later, about 40 million years ago, a penguin appeared that has been classified in the genus Aptenodytes and called Penguin A, and that gave rise to the largest species: the emperor penguin and the king penguin. It is important to know that this penguin was only one of the members of the genus since there were other species of the same that did not evolve successfully in the same way.
Later, Penguin B emerged, a member of the Pygoscelis genus and "father" of the current gentoo penguins, Adelie penguins, and chinstrap penguins. Penguin C gave birth to the Galapagos, Humboldt, Magellan, and Africa penguins, and one more ancestor is considered the father of the remaining species, including crested penguins. About 40-25 million years ago, penguins were already predators of fish, squid and warm-blooded krill.
The number of species was previously much higher than now, as several became extinct over time because they did not adapt to new environmental conditions, competition with cetaceans for food or other reasons.
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