A penguin was discovered on the shores of New Zealand, some 3,000 kilometres from its regular habitat in Antarctica.
When the Adelie penguin, nicknamed Bingo by locals, was discovered on the beach, it looked to be lost.
Hari Singh, the local who found him, initially thought him for a soft doll.
This is the third known discovery of an Adelie penguin off the coast of New Zealand.
Singh and his wife first observed the penguins after a long day of labour on the beach at Birdlings Flat, an apartment building south of Christchurch.
I initially thought it was a soft toy, but as the penguin moved its head, I knew it was real, Singh told the BBC.
Singh posted a photo of the penguin on his Facebook page, showing the bird looking lonely and mournful.
Singh saw that he hadn’t moved in an hour and seemed tired.
Singh contacted penguin rescue organisations because he was concerned that the penguin had not fallen to the sea, leaving it exposed to beach predators.
We didn’t want him in a dog or cat’s stomach, he stated.
Singh eventually contacted Thomas Straki, who has spent the last 10 years working on penguin recovery on New Zealand’s South Island.
Strucki was taken aback when he discovered that the penguin was an Adelie, a species found only on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Strakey and a veterinarian were able to save the penguin that night.
Blood testing indicated that Bingo was underweight and dehydrated. He has been given fluids and food through a feeding tube since his rescue.
The bird will be released on a dog-free beach on the Banks Peninsula in the future.
Only three Adelie penguins have been discovered off the coast of New Zealand in history, the first in 1993 and the second in 1962.
Adelie penguins are currently rare in New Zealand, according to experts, but if more of them arrive in the future, it might be a reason for concern.
I feel that if we encounter Adelie penguins on a regular basis, we will assume that something is changing in the ocean that we need to understand, according to Philip Seddon, a zoology professor at the University of Otago.
More study will provide us with a better understanding of where penguins migrate, what they do, and where their numbers are moving, as well as information about the general health of that maritime habitat, according to Seddon.
How did a penguin get from Antarctica to New Zealand?
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