Scientists discovered in Argentina's sector of Antarctica, an almost complete skull, part of the jawbone and other fossil remains belonging to a 35 million-year-old giant penguin that would have used its long beak to harpoon its prey, research sources said.

"It is the first time we know the skull and jaw of the "anthropornis grandis" (bird-man), and it is also the first time that a skull found in Antarctica can be assigned to a specific species," said Carolina Acosta Hospitaleche, a researcher at the La Plata Museum, in the province of Buenos Aires, and a Conicet researcher.

The leading author of the study published recently in the scientific journal Comptes Rendus Palevol, said the species was labelled back in 1905 "and although at that time only very isolated remains were known, they already saw that bones were much larger than today's penguins and that they could have a size similar to a person”.

According to experts, the length of the beak would indicate that this giant penguin, which could reach 1.7 meters in height, fed on fish.

Previous research had found skulls isolated from giant penguins in Antarctica, but they had never been assigned to a species, thus the importance of this finding.

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