Australia is known across the globe as the home of exotic, sometimes dangerous, animals.
Tourists heading to the country often talk of spiders, snakes and sharks. Hoping to catch a glimpse of preditors they see on nature documentaries.
Missing from that list is an emperor penguin. Until now.
Earlier this month locals and scientists were left baffled when one of the giants was found waddling up a beach on the Australian south coast.
The adult male was found on November 1 on a popular tourist beach in the town of Denmark in temperate southwest Australia — about 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) north of the icy waters off the Antarctic coast, according to a statement from the Western Australia state’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
The penguin, now nicknamed Gus, was discovered by Aaron Fowler. “We saw something coming out of the water,” Mr. Fowler told The New York Times. “We thought it was a seabird, but then we thought, ‘Oh, that’s way too big,’ and it had a big, long neck and a tail sticking out like a duck.
“It stood up in the water and waddled straight up to us and just started cleaning itself.”
“He did a little belly slide on the sand; I think he thought it was snow,” Mr. Fowler added.
“He didn’t get far. He had a bit of a tumble.”
Gus did not seem to be afraid of the humans on the beach.
He was malnourished and is now being cared for by a wildlife expert, a government department said on Monday.
A healthy male can weigh more than 45 kilograms (100 pounds).
The largest penguin species has never been reported in Australia before, University of Western Australia research fellow Belinda Cannell said, though some had reached New Zealand, Australia's neighbor almost entirely south of Denmark.
Denmark in WA:
Cannell said she had no idea why the penguin traveled to Denmark.
She is advising seabird rehabilitator Carol Biddulph who is caring for the penguin, spraying him with a chilled water mist to help him cope with his alien climate. The penguin is 1 meter (39 inches ) tall and initially weighed 23 kilograms (51 pounds).
Asked if the penguin could potentially be returned to Antarctica, the department replied that “options are still being worked through.”
