The remnants of an ancient penguin that stood as tall as a grown man have been found 1CASE in rock on a beach in New Zealand. Fossil hunters chanced upon the 2HISTORY bones on what is now Hampden beach in Otago on the country’s south island. They were found in 3SEDIMENT rock that formed 55 to 60 million years ago. Measurements of the 4PART skeleton show that the bird weighed about 100 kilograms. It also had a body length of 1.77m, equal to the average height of an American man, and was 5FLIGHT. Emperor penguins, the tallest penguin species alive today, reach only 1.2m when fully grown. Penguins evolved from flying birds tens of millions of years ago, but lost the ability to get 6AIR and became accomplished swimmers instead. Once grounded, some penguin species became much larger, growing from about 80cm tall to twice the size. The pieces of 7FOSSIL bones were first discovered more than a decade ago. The rock in which they lay, however, was so 8DESTRUCTIBLE that it has taken until now for researchers to prepare and study the remains.