It is a long road, even for an animal more comfortable at sea than on land.
An Adélie penguin, or long-tailed penguin, was found on a beach in southern New Zealand on Wednesday.
From Antarctica, its natural habitat, to kiwi land, the bird has therefore theoretically traveled 3000 kilometers.
The Adélie penguins are, along with the Emperor penguin, the only ones whose presence is limited to Antarctica and the surrounding waters.
The animal was discovered Wednesday on the beach at Birdlings Flat, in a small community on New Zealand's South Island, on the edge of the Banks Peninsula.
He was dehydrated and exhausted.
He was taken to the vet, protected under clothing and in a crate, and then fed on fish porridge.
After 24 hours of observation, the penguin was released on the seafront this Friday, in an area where it could not be threatened by other animals, especially dogs.
Since 1962, this is the third time that a penguin has made this crossing.
The first time it was an adult who was found dead at the mouth of a river, the second time the animal was found alive in Kaikoura, in the northeast of the South Island. .
The Adélie penguin lives in unknown numbers in Antarctica.
In March 2018, satellite images made it possible to count the colony installed in the archipelago of the Danger Islands, off the west coast of Antarctica: 1.5 million birds lived there at the time.