At 1.6 metres and 80kg (12st), the new species, Crossvallia waiparensis, was four times as heavy and 40cm taller than the emperor penguin, the largest living penguin

Enormous penguins are believed to have rapidly evolved in the Palaeocene epoch – between 66 and 56m years ago – after the dinosaurs disappeared and large marine reptiles also vanished from southern hemisphere waters that were much warmer than today

Penguin habitat distribution

• Penguins ?are flightless marine birds that live only in the Southern Hemisphere. The majority of the 18 species live not in Antarctica but rather between latitudes 45° and 60° S, where they breed on islands. A few penguins inhabit temperate regions, and one, the Galapagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus), lives at the Equator.