Tag Archives: Ewan Fordyce

Prehistoric Toothless Whale Among Oldest of Its Kind

Prehistoric Toothless Whale Among Oldest of Its Kind

A fossil found in South Canterbury is now one of the earliest members of the filter-feeding family of behemoths known as baleen whales. Modern baleen whales include many of the world’s largest cetaceans, such…

Researchers Identify New Fossil Whale Species of New Zealand

Researchers Identify New Fossil Whale Species of New Zealand

Researchers from the University of Otago have identified three new whale species that once lived in New Zealand. The “researchers’ discovery and description of the Tokarahia kauaeroa and Tokarahia lophocephalus whales helps to fill in an important gap…

Kairuku Comes Alive

Kairuku Comes Alive

The full skeleton of an ancient penguin that roamed New Zealand 25 million years ago has been reconstructed by experts from the University of Otago and North Carolina State University. Standing about 1.3m tall,…

Dinosaurs of the South Pacific

Dinosaurs of the South Pacific

The first proof that dinosaurs lived on remote South Pacific Islands has been revealed by Dr Jeffrey Stilwell of Monash University, Melbourne. Stilwell, who trained at Otago University under NZ’s leading palaeontologist Ewan Fordyce, has discovered a…

Kaiwhekea Katiki-saurus

Kaiwhekea Katiki-saurus

A new species of dinosaur has been discovered on a North Otago beach. The 70 million year old fossil is believed to be a type of plesiosaur – a giant, swimming reptile resembling “a…