The only emperor penguin known to have swum from Antarctica to Australia has been released at sea – 20 days after he waddled ashore on a popular tourist beach, officials said.
The adult male was found on November 1 on Ocean Beach sand dunes in the town of Denmark in temperate south-west Australia – about 2,200 miles north of the icy waters off the Antarctic coast, the Western Australia state government said.
The penguin was released from a Parks and Wildlife Service boat on Wednesday.
It had been cared for by registered wildlife caregiver Carol Biddulph, who named him Gus after the first Roman emperor Augustus.
“I really didn’t know whether he was going to make it to begin with because he was so undernourished,” Ms Biddulph said in video.
“I’ll miss Gus. It’s been an incredible few weeks, something I wouldn’t have missed,” she added.
Ms Biddulph said she had found from caring for other species of lone penguins that mirrors were an important part of their rehabilitation by providing a comforting sense of company.
“He absolutely loves his big mirror and I think that has been crucial in his well-being. They’re social birds and he stands next to the mirror most of the time,” she said.
He stands one metre (3.28ft) tall. A healthy male emperor penguin can weigh more than 45kg (100lbs).
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, nearly all of which is further south than Western Australia.
The Australian government said with the Southern Hemisphere summer approaching, it had been time-crucial to return Gus to the ocean where he could thermoregulate.
Emperor penguins have been known to cover up to 1,000 miles on foraging journeys that last up to a month.
