勇敢的小企鵝：覓食迷路 北漂千里至新西蘭

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.

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.

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.

Voyage of discovery: The penguin's journey is similar to the story of the children's film Happy Feet, where the main character finds himself far from 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 throught 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.相關中文報道:

近日，新西蘭一名婦女在海灘遛狗時，發現了一隻不該出現在那裏的“天外來客”——一隻來自南極的企鵝，正在海灘邊“晃盪”。據估計，這隻才10個月大的年輕企鵝可能是在南極迷路後，一路北上歷經數千英里的漫長路途，迷迷糊糊來到新西蘭的。

據報道，克里斯廷•威爾頓(Christine Wilton)在新西蘭北島首都惠靈頓南邊一處海灘遛狗時，發現一隻約2英尺(約合0.7米)高、正在沙子上“晃盪”的企鵝，大感驚訝。她覺得生活在南極企鵝出現在新西蘭的沙灘上，只能用“天外來客”來形容了。

這是新西蘭野外環境中44年來第一次出現企鵝。這隻10個月大的帝企鵝可謂締造了它們種族的“漂流歷史”。

環境保護者認爲，這隻企鵝一定是完成了一段令人不可思議的漫長旅程，經歷了不少艱險，才從南極跑到新西蘭的。科學家們說，這隻小企鵝應該是去年冬天出生的。企鵝最喜歡吃魷魚和磷蝦，這個小傢伙想必是在找食物的過程中走反了方向，結果一路向北，整整漂流了3200公里，來到新西蘭。 報道說，這簡直是現實版的電影《歡樂的大腳》中的主人公——“大腳”。

據推測，這位企鵝界的“魯濱遜”旅途中並非一直在水中游，可能是長時間站在浮冰上，最後才進入水中游泳，並跑到岸上的。

帝企鵝每小時可遊15英里左右，不過從南極到新西蘭，企鵝可要遊1個月時間左右。據觀察，這隻企鵝已經感到又熱又餓，可能還吃了溼沙子。作爲世界上生存能力最強(在南極生活)的一種動物，它得找到回家的路，馬上南下，生存下去。

目前，科學家們正在密切關注這隻小企鵝的一舉一動。他們希望這隻勇敢的小企鵝可以順利地找到回家的路。