Scientists in New Zealand have uncovered what they believe are the fossilized remains of a giant penguin nearly the size of an adult human.
The discovery, published this week in , shows the penguin stood about 1.6-metres tall and weighed 80 kilograms, significantly larger than the modern Emperor penguin.
鈥淢ost people wouldn鈥檛 recognize the animal we described as being a penguin,鈥� Paul Scofield, a senior curator at the Canterbury Museum, told 麻豆影视 Channel from Christchurch, N.Z.
鈥淚t had a very, very long bill like a heron or a cormorant and it also had a long tail. It couldn鈥檛 fly, but it wasn鈥檛 far from its flying ancestors and it probably had a small bent wing, rather than a flipper.鈥�
The researchers say the "crossvallia waiparensis,鈥� as it鈥檚 been named, roamed the South Island of New Zealand between 56 and 66 million years ago.
An amateur fossil hunter found the leg bones of the penguin about a year ago, but it is just now being confirmed as a new species. This is the second giant penguin fossil to be found in New Zealand.
鈥淚t takes quite a while when you鈥檝e got an unknown animal right in front of you to actually work out what it is,鈥� Scofield said.
This discovery comes just a week after researchers discovered the fossil of a giant parrot in New Zealand. The 鈥淗eracles inexpectatus鈥� grew to about twice the size of the New Zealand kakapo, the largest parrot species currently on Earth.
The island of New Zealand was also once the home of a giant flightless bird known as the moa and a giant eagle with a three-metre wingspan.
鈥淚t鈥檚 part of an ongoing realization about how bizarre prehistory New Zealand actually was,鈥� Schofield said. 鈥淲e now know that there was a whole suite of these giant animals living in New Zealand.鈥�
The researchers believe there are two explanations for why these giant birds are no longer around and the first has to do with how New Zealand had a more tropical climate millions of years ago, but has since cooled down.
鈥淭hese large animals probably couldn鈥檛 have survived in such a cool climate and it鈥檚 also quite probable that the rise of the sea mammals -- whales and dolphins -- out-competed the giant avian predators,鈥� Scofield said.
With files from AFP
