Children Find "Giant Penguin" Fossil

New Zealand children, members of the Hamilton Junior Naturalists Club, on a fossil hunt near Kawhia on the west coast of the north island, have discovered several bones of a fossilized giant penguin in a sandstone platform. The penguin paddled the waters of the planet 40 million years ago. The penguin could have looked modern man in the eye, probably standing 1.5 meters and weighing 100kg. Scientists know of 12 other extinct penguins of the New Zealand area but only have one or two bones of those specimans. This find is significant because of the number of bones found and the completeness of the skeleton. The children were not told immediately what they had discovered as their leader feared the site would be overrun and destroyed if word got out. After he worked with a team to recover the bones and move them out of the tide and surf, he let the children know about their potentially significant discovery.