New Zealand was once home to the tallest penguin species ever known — a lanky bird that stood as high as 4.2 feet (1.3 meters).
The penguin, dubbed Kairuku grebneffi, lived about 27 million years ago in a penguin paradise. More of New Zealand was underwater at the time, with only today's mountaintops emerging from the sea. That made for excellent coastal nesting for a number of penguin species.
The new fossil specimens were found beginning in the 1970s, and researchers have continued to turn up bones from the animals as recently as two months ago, said study researcher and North Carolina State University paleontologist Daniel Ksepka. The find expands the known diversity of ancient New Zealand penguins, Ksepka told LiveScience.
"In the past we would have thought there were one or two species living in the area," he said. "Now we know there were five."
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