Fossil of large penguin provides a new window into New Zealand’s long-lost past

In 2006, children from a junior naturalists’ club in New Zealand discovered the fossilised remains of a penguin the size of a ten-year-old child. Standing about 1.38 metres tall, the giant bird turns out to be a new species that was taller than other ancient giant penguins, as well as the tallest modern penguin, the 1.2-metre-tall emperor (Aptenodytes forsteri). Researchers named the species Kairuku waewaeroa; the second part of the name is Māori for ‘long legs’.