Ancient giant penguin lived alongside dinosaurs

​Wellington: Penguins are much older than previously thought and their evolution probably dates back to dinosaur times, said a study of a giant ancient penguin fossil found in New Zealand.

The fossilised leg and toe bones found on the east of the South Island came from a huge penguin thought to be about 150 centimetres tall, Xinhua news agency quoted the Christchurch-based Canterbury Museum as saying.

The new find was one of the oldest penguin fossils in the world, dating back to 61 million years ago. The bones differed substantially from previous penguin finds of a similar age and showed the variety of Palaeocene penguins, living between 66 million and 56 million years ago, was greater than previously thought.