From kangaroos to koalas, Australia is home to some of the most incredible animals in the world.
But surfers on the south coast were in for a surprise when they discovered a rather unexpected animal on the beach: an emperor penguin.
Aaron Fowler, a surfer based at Ocean Beach in Denmark, about 430 kilometers south of Perth, was amazed on Friday afternoon when he discovered the penguin.
‘It was huge, much bigger than a seabird and we thought: what is that thing coming out of the water? And it had a tail that stuck out like a duck,” Mr. Fowler said ABC News.
“He stood up in the waves and just waddled straight towards us, an emperor penguin, he was probably about three feet tall, and he wasn’t shy at all.
“He looked absolutely flawless.”
Experts believe the emperor penguin traveled to Australia from its home in Antarctica, which is 2,000 miles (3,300 kilometers) away.
This marks the longest journey ever recorded for the species – and is the most northerly point an emperor penguin has ever seen in the wild.
The penguin traveled from Antarctica to the Australian city of Denmark, about 430 kilometers south of Perth
From kangaroos to koalas, Australia is home to some of the most incredible animals in the world. But surfers on the south coast were in for a surprise when they discovered a rather unexpected animal on the beach: an emperor penguin
Mr Fowler was on the beach with a friend and their children when he spotted the emperor penguin.
“There’s always some wildlife in the water, but never a penguin,” he said.
“(The kids) were pretty excited, but I don’t think they understood the coolness of what was happening.
“He tried to slide on his stomach, thinking it was snow, I guess, and stopped with his face in the sand and stood up and shook off all the sand.”
The emperor penguin is known as the ‘giant of the penguin world’, with adult males growing up to 1.4 meters tall.
The species breeds the most southerly of all penguin species, forming large colonies on the sea ice around the Antarctic continent.
“They may be the only bird that never sets foot on land and breeds even on frozen seas,” the British Antarctic Survey explains on its website.
‘Emperors are true Antarctic birds, rarely seen in subantarctic waters.’
Mr Fowler was on the beach with a friend and their children when he spotted the emperor penguin
Dr. Belinda Cannell, a research fellow at the University of Western Australia, believes this could be the furthest north an emperor penguin has ever travelled.
“The tracked specimens have never gotten this far,” she told ABC News.
‘The furthest north they go from Antarctica is about 50 degrees south according to my measurements and Ocean Beach is 35 degrees south, so much further north than they have ever tracked young penguins from Antarctica before.’
Although the nature of its journey remains unclear, Dr Cannell says the penguin likely followed a current.
“That youngster is less than a year old and normally they are at sea until about three to five years old, and then they return to their natal colony when they start breeding,” she said.
‘What they usually do is follow certain currents, where they will find many different types of food.
“So maybe those currents just moved a little further north towards Australia than normal.”
The penguin is now being cared for by registered wildlife carers.
It remains unclear whether it will remain in Australia or be returned to its home in Antarctica.