Fear the penguin

Once upon a time, penguins were very big:

However, we are still learning more wondrous things about this species. Recently, scientists in New Zealand were able to build a model of a prehistoric penguin that lived more than 27 million years ago. Dubbed the Kairuku penguin, this species stood at nearly five feet, taller than the emperor penguin. The first fossil of the Kairuku penguin was found nearly 30 years ago. However, only recently have the scientists been able to reconstruct a model using two separate fossils and the skeleton structure of modern penguins. Unlike their present day cousins, the Kairuku penguins’ hands were slender, they had curvier beaks and the species lived for about 25 million years.