A scene that would be deleted from the groundbreaking 2007 cinematic epic, Surf’s uprecently met its demise in real life when an emperor penguin showed up during a surfing session in Western Australia. Unfortunately, Chicken Joe was nowhere to be seen. Probably too far to swim for the blasé bird.
The surprise guest appeared on a beach in Norway, Australia, a city over 250 miles from Perth. That’s 3,300 kilometers away from the penguin’s home in Antarctica. Emperor penguins are known to travel up to 1,000 miles in search of food, but the distance from Antarctica to Australia is virtually unheard of. And the surfers who found the penguin? They were rightly shocked.
“There was a big bird in the water, like it came out of the waves,” surfer Aaron Fowler, who was in the water when the surprise guest appeared, told ABC. “He just waddled over and came right up to us. He tried to jump forward, onto his stomach [like it was snow] but he just went derp in the sand. It was definitely the coolest nature experience I’ve ever had.”
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Due to its extreme distance and extreme rarity, it is believed that this was the first time in history that an emperor penguin swam to the coast of Australia. It is possible that the bird was hunting when it was caught in a current that took it all the way to Oz.
As suspected, the animal was malnourished due to the journey. He was half the weight of the average emperor penguin. Wildlife rescue duo Carol and Graham Biddulph jumped in to help.
“The care, attention and efforts of Carol and Graham Biddulph have given the Antarctic bird, found thousands of miles outside its habitat and in a different climate, a fighting chance for survival,” said a representative of Australia’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) wrote this in a press release.
After nursing the bird – affectionately named Gus – back to health, a team transported him back to his home in Antarctica. Happy ending for everyone. But no live action Surf’s up remake…for now.
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