A long way from home: An Emperor Penguin waddles along Peka Peka beach in New Zealand after becoming lost while swimming in the Southern Ocean

By Richard Shears
25th June 2011

Somewhere along the way, as it swam through the icy waters of Antarctica, a young emperor penguin took a wrong turn - and ended up in New Zealand.

The black and white bird came ashore on a beach in the south of the North Island nearly 4,000 miles away from its usual habitat.

There are two dozens colonies of the penguins in Antarctica, but this is the first time for 44 years a 'vagrant' bird has turned up in New Zealand.

I should have turned right: The juvenile penguin takes a breather on the sand of Peka Peka beach

The creature's astonishing journey was witnessed by a woman walking her dog as the 2ft bird waddled out of the water in front of her.

Christine Wilton stumbled across the nautical wanderer on Peka Peka beach.

She said: 'It was out of this world to see it.

'It was this glistening white thing standing up on the sand and I thought I was seeing things.'

The tale of the lost penguin is similar to the 2006 children's film Happy Feet, in which a young penguin finds himself far from home during a voyage of discovery.

Which way to Antarctica? The 2ft bird is believed to have become lost while hunting for squid and krill among ice floes and its epic journey may have taken up to a month

What's all the flapping about? Experts have said it would have taken the penguin a month to get from its usual home in Antarctica to New Zealand's North Island

Conservationists believe it has completed an incredible journey for such a young bird - it is estimated to be around 10 months old.

The most likely explanation for for its appearance in New Zealand is the hunt for food.

The emperor penguin - a species discovered during Captain James Cook's 19th century voyage - may have been searching for squid and krill and got lost among the ice floes of Antarctica.

They almost never make landfall near humans so it is likely that this one decided it had had enough of swimming through the Southern Ocean and had come ashore.

Experts said it may also have rested on an ice floe during its travels and was carried north for a great distance before it made a swim for dry land.

Emperor penguins can swim at up to 15mph. But because it would have had to rest at time and would not have been able to swim at that speed for long, its wayward journey would have taken more than a month.

The tallest and largest species of penguins - emperors can grow up to 4ft tall.

Colin Miskelly, a curator of New Zealand Museum, said: 'They can spend months at a time in the ocean and come ashore only to moult or rest.'

Some two dozens colonies of the birds are thought to exist in Antarctica, ranging from less than 200 pairs to more than 50,000.

They are the toughest of all the species, the only ones able to reproduce during the Antarctic winter, when temperatures can drop to minus 50c.

Mr Miskelly said the plucky bird would have to find its way back south soon if it was going to survive.

He said: 'It is probably hot and thirsty and has been eating wet sand.

'It doesn't realise that the sand isn't going to melt inside it because they typically eat snow - their only liquid.'

New Zealand residents have been warned to give the bird a wide berth - it can inflict painful bites if threatened.

Vagrant emperor penguins have been reported as far apart as the South Shetland Islands, Tierra del Fuego, the Falklands, South Sandwich Islands, Kerguelen Island, Heard Island and New Zealand.

Lost: The bird will need to find its way back to Antarctica if it is to survive

Wrong turning: A colony of emperor penguins in Antarctica. The continent is home to dozens of colonies of the species

Published June 25, 2011   | NewsCore

WELLINGTON, New Zealand –  "Happy Feet," the emperor penguin who took a wrong turn somewhere in Antarctica and wound up on a New Zealand beach, remained critically ill Sunday after a second operation to remove sand from his stomach, the Sunday Star-Times reported.

Wellington Zoo veterinarian Lisa Argilla said the penguin, thought to be about 10 months old and dubbed "Happy Feet" in honor of the 2006 film about emperor penguins, remains critically ill, according to the paper.

Vets told the Star-Times that there is still more sand in Happy Feet's stomach and while the penguin may undergo another procedure on Monday, additional surgery may further endanger his life.

Argilla told the paper one danger is that the sand may harden into balls that could rupture the penguin's stomach.

It was thought the penguin may have mistaken the sand for snow.

On Saturday, vets pumped water into the penguin's stomach as a crowd of zoo-goers watched anxiously from behind a glass panel. He was then taken back to his chilled enclosure, where he nibbled on some shaved ice, the report said.

Happy Feet was first spotted Monday on Peka Peka Beach and brought to the zoo in a chilled box.

But even if he pulls through the sand crisis, Happy Feet's next battle was finding a way back home.

Businessman Gareth Morgan presented a solution by offering to take the penguin on a Russian icebreaker ship bound for the Ross Sea in the Antarctic. Unfortunately, the expedition was not planned until February.

"Of course until that time Happy Feet will have to be cared for here in Wellington," Morgan said.

Experts also warned that large birds can suffer trauma if moved long distances.