37m yr old fossil of `giant penguin` found near Antarctica

London: Researchers have discovered a fossil, which provided the proof that `colossal penguins` existed around 37 to 40 million years ago, on a small island near Antarctica.

The discovery disclosed about the penguin species, known as `Palaeeudyptes Klekowskii`, which was 6ft 6ins high and weighed around 115 kilos, Metro.co.uk reported.

A wing bone of the giant extinct penguin along with a 9.1 centimetre long tarsometatarsus, which would have been formed by the fusion of ankle and foot bones, were discovered by Carolina Acosta Hospitaleche from the La Plata Museum in Argentina.
Dan Ksepka at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Conneticut said that this was the longest foot bone he had ever seen.