Story at a glance
- A lone Adélie penguin was found in New Zealand on Friday.
- Native to Antarctica, the penguin managed to travel over a thousand miles away from its breeding site.
- It’s only the third time in recorded history that an Adélie penguin was found in New Zealand.
A penguin normally found in Antarctica found its way to New Zealand, over a thousand miles away from its natural habitat on Friday.
The Adélie penguin, called “Pingu” by locals, was found on Birdlings Flat, a settlement in Canterbury, New Zealand. The last time an Adélie penguin was found in New Zealand was in 1993, according to New Zealand Birds Online, a digital encyclopedia of New Zealand birds.
Thomas Stracke of New Zealand’s Christchurch Penguin Rehabilitation told The Guardian that he was shocked to find an Adélie penguin. “Apart from being a bit starving and severely dehydrated, he was actually not too bad, so we gave him some fluids and some fish smoothie,” Stracke said.
The penguin was eventually released into a bay, where his helpers hope he can make the journey back home to Antarctica
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Stracke also told The Guardian that he had initially asked to have the penguin put on an air force plane and dropped off at Scott Base, New Zealand’s only Antarctic research station. The Department of Conservation, however, said that wouldn’t be possible. “They had a meeting with the other big penguin guns and they said no.”
As ocean waters warm, birds can struggle to find food as fish usually go into deeper colder waters.
Adélie penguins are considered excellent swimmers and are one of only five species that live on the Antarctic continent, according to the Australian Antarctic Program. More than 80,000 pairs of Adélie penguins breed annually along the Antarctic coast. So far, scientists know they can swim up to 745 miles away from their breeding site.
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