The remains of a giant penguin the size of a human have been discovered in New Zealand.
The fossilized bones are those of an animal that was about 1.6 m (5 ft 3 in) tall and weighed up to 80 kg (176 lb).
Fossils found by amateur paleontologist Leigh Love in 2018 show the bones of Crossvallia waiparensis. This mammoth penguin roamed the Earth during the Paleocene epoch—about 66 to 56 million years ago.
“This is one of the largest penguin species ever found,” Paul Scofield, the museum’s senior curator said.
Today’s largest species, the Emperor Penguin, grows to about 1.2m tall.
“We think that at the time, animals were evolving very rapidly,” Mr Scofield explained. “Water temperatures around New Zealand were ideal back then, around 25C (77F) compared to the 8C we have now.”
