Gus, an emperor penguin who gained international fame after travelling about 3,000km from Antarctica to the West Australian coast, is on his long way home after being released into the Southern Ocean.
Emperor penguins can travel up to 1,600km on foraging trips, when they hunt fish, squid and krill. So Gus’s arrival on Ocean Beach, Denmark in Western Australia on Nov. 1 sparked surprise.
Local wildlife carers Carole and Graham Biddulph looked after Gus during his 20-day “extraordinary stopover” before his release back into the Southern Ocean earlier last week.
Photo: AP
The Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attraction in a Facebook post on Friday confirmed the release and said “farewell and safe travels to our royal overseas guest.”
Gus gained 3.5kg during its time in Wesyer, the department said, and passed several veterinary health checks before his release.
The Biddulphs, a vet and a wildlife officer oversaw Gus’s return to the ocean from a boat off the Western Australia coast on Wednesday.
“With warmer weather approaching, it was critical to return the penguin to its natural environment, where it can thrive and thermoregulate,” the department said.
It said the Antarctic traveler was “ready to continue its epic journey” thanks to the Biddulph’s “amazing efforts.”
“Keep going south, Gus,” Carol Biddulph said in a video posted by the department. “Don’t stop for anyone.”
Emperor penguins are the largest of the 18 penguin species, and can weigh up to 40kg.
They are very social, and huddle together to keep warm. The temperature inside a huddle can reach 24C, the Australian Antarctic Program said.
“On a social level, huddling behavior is an extraordinary act of cooperation in the face of common hardship,” the program said.
“Emperors take this to an extreme, taking turns to occupy the warmest and coldest positions in the huddle.
“On windy days, those on the windward edge feel the cold more than those in the center and down-wind. One by one they peel off the mob and shuffle, egg on feet, down the flanks of the huddle to join it again on the leeward side.
“They follow one another in a continuous procession, passing through the warm center of the huddle and eventually returning back to the windward edge,” it said.
The penguins are also insulated by layers of feathers and reserves of body fat — their feet have special fats that stop them from freezing, with strong, ice-gripping claws, it added.
They are considered “near threatened,” and are the only animals that breed during the Antarctic winter, when they “breed during the worst weather conditions on earth,” it said.
Male emperors assume incubation duties, while parents share duties once chicks have hatched.
“He’s got a long journey home,” the Biddulphs said. “I’ve just got every confidence he’s going to make it. He’s a bird in a million.”
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