A penguin from Antarctica covered a record distance and reached Australia

Emperor Penguin/Department of Biodiversity

Residents of Ocean Beach in Western Australia were incredibly surprised by an emperor penguin on the beach. As it turned out, it swam from Antarctica, covering more than 3,500 kilometers.

The emperor penguin made the longest journey ever known for this species after it ended up in Australia. The Daily Star writes about this.

He was huge. It was much larger than a seabird, and we thought: “What kind of creature is coming out of the water?”. And he had a tail sticking out like a duck. He rose on the waves and just swam straight towards us. It was an emperor penguin, he was probably about a meter tall, and he wasn't shy at all. It just looked absolutely flawless, said Aaron Fowler, a surfer from Ocean Beach, about 430km south of Perth.

Experts believe it most likely came from one of the more than 60 known colonies of emperor penguins on the sea ice of East Antarctica.

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Tracked penguins have never gone this far. The furthest north of Antarctica they go is about 50 degrees south latitude to my knowledge, and Ocean Beach is 35 degrees south latitude, which is much further north than any young penguins from Antarctica have ever been tracked before, said Dr Belinda Cannell, an expert of penguins from the University of Western Australia.

She thinks the bird was most likely following the current. This chick is less than a year old, and they usually stay at sea until they are about three to five years old, then return to their colony when they start breeding. They tend to follow certain currents, where they find a lot of different types of food. So maybe those currents just tend to be a little more northerly.

Kennell also noted that it's likely that the malnourished penguin would have to seek out emperor penguin colonies once it was released from the wild. It is unlikely that the bird can be transported back to Antarctica as the journey would be too stressful for it.

I would assume, I would hope that it would actually find its way back to Antarctica, she said, adding that penguins are “amazing at finding their own colonies.”

Emperor penguin/Department of Biodiversity