Kairuku, the penguin of 26 million years ago.

35 years ago, the first bones were discovered for a giant sea bird, long extinct. It's taken scientists some time to reconstruct the skeleton, using three different sets of fossils, but we now have our first glimpse of what the penguin-like animal looked like. Standing over 4 feet tall, the Kairuku, meaning "diver who returns with food", had a slender build, long wings, and a spear-like bill that would have been perfect for making sashimi. Being a larger animal than modern penguins, this thing would have likely been able to swim farther and deeper, making easy prey of all sorts of fish. No one knows exactly what would have cause the Kairuku to become extinct, but competition for food, new predators, and climate change are likely candidates.