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BLACK, WHITE, & HUGE

Penguins the Size of Humans Once Walked the Earth

A set of human-sized penguin fossils were found in New Zealand.

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Image Courtesy G. Mayr/Senckenberg Research Institute

Sixty million years ago, penguins the size of a 5’6” human roamed modern New Zealand, according to a paper published in Nature Communications. The giant penguin, named Kumimanu biceae, rivaled the size of other Paleocene animals and probably evolved shortly after attaining flightless diving abilities. The species used its long beak to spear fish and had brown feathers, unlike its modern relatives. It’s not the first time giant penguin fossils have been found, but it's the oldest thus far. Scientists think that the fossil shows a strain of gigantism that ended as large animals evolved in oceans.

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