When you purchase through connection on our site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
Dinosaurs often steal the limelight when it comes to fogy , but other prehistoric critters are just as deserve of our attention . As 2023 occur to a close , it ’s time to bet back on some of the most jaw - dropping dodo discoveries that were n’t all aboutT. rex . From a fish with eyes too big for its stomach to the largest ever fossilise flower and mysterious nautical fossil that glow Au , here ’s our pick of non - dino fossils that muck up our socks off in 2023 .
Largest penguin to walk Earth
In February , scientist described fossils belonging to the largest known species of penguins — Kumimanu fordycei , whichweighed a walloping 340 pounds(154 kilograms ) . These colossal penguins glided through the ocean around what is now New Zealand more than 50 million yr ago , bone discovered inside beach boulder in North Otago on the country ’s South Island revealed .
Researchers estimated the weight ofK. fordyceibased on the size of it and tightness of these bones compare with those of survive penguins . The fossilized remains of eight other penguin specimen were also uncovered inside the boulders , including those of the newfound speciesPetradyptes stonehouseiand a know species of jumbo penguin , K. biceae .
gargantuan penguin likely evaporate around 27 million year ago , when they were outcompeted by marine mammals similar in size , expert told Live Science .
The largest known penguin to ever waddle on Earth,Kumimanu fordycei, steps onto a beach surrounded by another newly discovered species,Petradyptes stonehousei,in this life reconstruction.
Tiny penguin skulls
In June , researchersidentified two midget skull fossilsfrom New Zealand ’s North Island as belonging to a never - before - seen out species , which they named Wilson ’s little penguin ( Eudyptula wilsonae ) . The skulls , one from an adult and the other from a juvenile , were remarkably similar to those of the low living species of penguin today — the small penguin ( Eudyptula minor ) .
research worker do n’t bonk exactly how small the extinct birds were , but little penguins grow to a maximum size of 13.5 inch ( 35 centimeters ) and weigh around 2 pound ( 0.9 kilogram ) , which may be in the ballpark .
Related : Ancient skeletons of largest - ever pouched mammal excavate in Australia
An artist’s interpretation of what the newly discovered species,Eudyptula wilsonae, would have looked like.
Fossilized flower mystery solved
In January , scientist last beat to the bottom of a 150 - class - old enigma . They discover that aflower lay to rest in a hunk of amberand discovered in the Baltic forests of Northern Europe in 1872 is a newfound metal money namedSymplocos kowalewskiithat dates to the late Eocene epoch ( just about 38 million to 33.9 million years ago ) .
The specimen , which measures about 1 inch ( 2.8 curium ) wide , is the largest fossilized flower ever show and is three times the sizing of the next - liberal amber - encased salad days .
Trilobites' hidden third eye
scientist analyse a fossilised trilobite specimen — an nonextant marine arthropod that lived during the Paleozoic Era ( 541 million to 252 million years ago ) — discovered that these prehistorical creatures did n’t have just a brace of chemical compound eyes , as antecedently call up , but alsosported a third eye in the centre of their os frontale .
The trilobite specimen was missing a part of its head , which gave investigator a coup d’oeil under a layer of shell that becomes opaque during the fossilisation mental process and hide the structures beneath . Hidden median middle are mutual among arthropods living today .
Baby turtles mistaken for plants
A re - scrutiny of two ancient " plant " fossils discovered in Colombia 50 year ago bring out they areactually the stiff of hatchling turtlesfrom the dinosaur long time . The 2 - inch - foresighted ( 5 cm ) , leaf - shaped fossils dissipate their view finder , who originally placed them within a grouping of plants that thrived during the LateDevonian(419.2 million to 358.9 million years ago ) and thePermian(298.9 million to 251.9 million years ago ) .
In December , it work out the fossils were extremely rare imprints of the upper shell of babe turtle dating back to the Aptian age ( 125 million to 113 million geezerhood ago ) of theCretaceous(145 million to 66 million years ago ) .
It ’s potential the hatchlings were members of theoldest sea turtleson record — Desmatochelys padillai — but research worker would ask a gross skeleton to affirm this .
The fossilized flower was discovered in a Baltic forest in 1872.
Related : Flesh - eat on ' killer ' lampreys that inhabit 160 million yr ago unearthed in China
Beheaded in action
A fossil from the Middle Triassic ( 247 million to 237 million year ago ) , which was discovered on the border between Italy and Switzerland , showed ivory breaks and tooth German mark reproducible with a brutish beheading . The victim , a giant nautical reptile calledTanystropheus hydroideswith a neck three times as long as its body , had itshead torn off in one clean biteby an even deadlier animate being that probably swoop up down from above , expert said .
It ’s unreadable which predator could have killed the 20 - animal foot - long ( 6 meter ) reptile , but researcher contract down a list of suspect by measuring the distance between the tooth Mark . Potential candidate admit the 18 - animal foot - long ( 5.5 m ) ichthyosaurCymbospondylus buchseri ; an enormous reptile valuate up to 23 feet ( 7 m ) long calledNothosaurus giganteus ; andHelveticosaurus zollingeri — an oracular , 12 - foot - long ( 3.6 m ) vulture .
Slasher dolphin with jutting teeth
In June , investigator identified a spectacularly preserved dolphin skull as a newfound mintage that survive 25 million days ago during the Oligocene period ( 34 million to 23 million eld ago ) . The fogey , which was first discovered buried in a cliff face in 1998 and was being concord in a museum collection in New Zealand , wasrecently namedNihohae matakoi , from Maori words meaning " slashing tooth , face sharp . "
The skull was around 2 foot ( 60 centimeter ) long and sported longsighted teeth that stuck out almost horizontally from what would have been the nozzle . These coon - like teeth were probably unsuited to captivate fish , the researchers said , but the creature may have jactitate at its prey to stun it before slurp it up . It ’s also potential the dolphin ’s project teeth serve a sexual or social purpose .
Prehistoric fish’s last supper
An challenging fossil found in a museum drawer captured the moment a prehistoric fish withdraw an ammonite — an extinct marine mollusk — andchoked to death on it . The ammonoid stay intact inside the Pisces ’s body and became imprinted in rock , lodged up against the piranha ’s spine . The pair belike died together about 180 million class ago , during the Jurassic period ( 201 million to 145 million years ago ) .
The fogey was discovered in 1977 near Stuttgart , in southwest Germany , but researchers initially stack away it away , as they thought the pairing of the fossilized Pisces the Fishes and ammonite was a coincidence . Another feeling recently give away the ammonite was inside the Pisces and likely caused its death due to the mollusk ’s size — tantamount to a human swallowing a dinner party shell .
Related : low-down piss levels in Lake Powell reveal ' extremely rarified ' fogey from extinct Jurassic mammal congener
Much like modern-day arthropods, trilobites had more than two eyes.
Mysterious golden fossils
Shimmering fossil of marine animate being from Germany ’s Posidonia Shale were long thought to glow amber thanks to a mineral call iron pyrite , but theyturned out to contain very little of it . rather , researcher retrace the fossils ' halcyon glimmer to phosphate minerals with yellow calcite . Unlike pyrite , phosphate minerals need oxygen to form , which unwrap young information about the fossilization process in the region .
Fossils from the Posidonia Shale — which include ammonite , bivalves and crustacean from the Jurassic period — are found in what investigator once thought was a entirely oxygen - exhaust environs . The discovery of phosphate mineral in the grooves means a burst of oxygen must have reached them at some stage , rick the fogey into what face like gold .
Mystery of prehistoric shrimp’s supper solved
A shrimp - comparable Cambrian critter ’s pick of food has surprised scientist : It was thought to feed by piercing hard - shelled prey , but it turns out it likely hunted diffuse - bodied animals instead . In July , data processor models of fossils dating to 500 million years ago suggestedAnomalocaris canadensis , which was about the sizing of a house cat and boast two spiky facial appendage , plausibly swam like a cuttle with its appendagesoutstretched to pincushion prey .
Contrary to what was previously thought , A. canadensis ' appendage probably were n’t robust enough to spit trilobite — extinct marine arthropod with a problematical exoskeleton . So the strange creature more likely feasted on squishy animals float in the water column .
Fleeing vampire with luminous organs
— 500 million - yr - old worm with ' shuriken ' spikes call after mammoth ' Dune ' sandworms
— Scientists reveal typeface of 10 - foot ' orca tadpole ' that terrorized Earth long before the dinosaurs
— 462 million - year - old fossilized middle and brains uncovered in ' secret ' Welsh fossil situation
Left hand side shows a drawing of the turtle’s ribs and backbone superimposed onto the oval shaped fossil. Right hand shows the fossil without the drawing ontop.
A young psychoanalysis of fogey belong to to a chemical group of mostly nonextant , devilfish - like creatures phone vampyromorpha bring out a previously undescribed species witheight munition , all-day sucker attachment like a lamia calamary and radiate - in - the - dark organ .
The 3.2 - inch - long ( 8 centimeter ) , smoke - shaped creature stalked Earth ’s ocean 165 million year ago and in all probability snatched prey using its arm . Researchers in France name itVampyrofugiens atramentum — a compounding of the Serbian Good Book for vampire , " vampir , " and the Latin word for fleeing , " fugiens " — mean the fleeing lamia .
Artist impression ofTanystropheus hydroideshaving its neck bitten by a larger predator.
The fossilized skull ofNihohae matakoi— first found in 1998 — has now been described by scientists.
The tuna-likePachycormus macropterusgot an ammonite lodged inside its body just before it died, researchers found.
Phosphate minerals are what cause these fossil to glow.
Fossilized remains ofAnomalocaris canadensis.
A hypothesized reconstruction ofVampyrofugiens atramentum.
