40 million years ago penguins were 6 feet tall.

40 million years ago penguins were 6 feet tall.

The penguins would have been around three times heavier than Emperor penguins shown here Flickr/sandwichgirl Newly unearthed fossils from Antarctica have revealed that the continent was once home to the biggest species of penguins ever discovered.

A few years ago, paleontologists discovered 40-million-year-old fossils they claimed belonged to a penguin that was 6 feet 5 inches long from beak to tail.

The fossil remains of the largest penguin species on the planet were unearthed in Antarctica. The fossils belonged to a colossal 6-foot, 8-inch penguin that weighed 250 pounds and lived approximately 37 million years ago.

The biggest ever discovered is known as Palaeeudyptes klekowskii - dubbed the 'colossus penguin'. It was up to six feet in length and lived much later - 37 to 40 million years ago on Antarctica.