When interpreted with geological data, fossils can help illuminate the world that existed many millions of years ago and explain how life on Earth evolved.
Key to this story in the North Island is this fossil of a giant penguin, discovered in January 2006 by a group of young naturalists at Te Waitere Inlet in the Kaawhia harbour.
The youthful members of the Hamilton Junior Naturalist Club, known as Junats, and their adult educators were out scouring the beach for fossils, but never expected to stumble over such a magnificent find.
In 2021, research published in the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology by Massey University scientists confirmed the discovery was a new species of prehistoric penguin. The scientific name of the species is ‘Kairuku waewaeroa’ which incorporates the Maaori word for 'long legs'.
This prehistoric penguin is believed to have stood at 1.5 metres tall, and would have weighed around 100 kilograms, which is much larger than modern-day Emperor penguins.
The area around Kaawhia harbour is part of the Whaaingaroa formation, deposited between 27 and 34 million years ago.