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It's DNA Day AND World Penguin Day today! 
So let's talk about penguin DNA.
Now, we havenât yet found enough fossils to completely fill out the penguin family tree. But we do know they evolved from a flying ancestor.
So let's talk about penguin DNA. Now, we havenât yet found enough fossils to completely fill out the penguin family tree. But we do know they evolved from a flying ancestor.
The closest living relatives of the penguins are the Procellariiformes, which includes albatrosses, petrels, and storm petrels. And they all fly.
And based on studies that use a combination of genetics, skeletal similarities, and LOTS of statistics, it seems that the split between the two groups probably happened in the Late Cretaceous Period, sometime between about 71 million and 66 million years ago.
To learn more about penguins see our "When Penguins Went From the Sky to the Sea" video!
And if you want to know more about how we extract DNA from fossils check out this video
#PenguinDay #DNADay #Evolution #Eons #FunFact
#PenguinDay #DNADay #Evolution #Eons #FunFact
