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  • Happy Feet became Happy Meal?





    Scientists tracking Happy Feet, the wayward penguin who became a worldwide celebrity after washing up on a New Zealand beach, said Monday they had lost contact with the giant bird.

    Researchers said they had received no transmissions since last Friday from a satellite tracking device that was attached to the penguin after he was released into the icy Southern Ocean on September 4.

    Happy Feet may have been eaten by predators, or the tracking transmitter may have failed or fallen off as the penguin swam in the sub-Antarctic waters where a New Zealand research vessel dropped him off, researchers said.

    SEE ALSO: Lost Penguin Facing Long Swim Home

    Colin Miskelly, an animal expert from Wellington's Te Papa museum who advised on Happy Feet's two-month rehabilitation when he was found emaciated and near death in late June, said efforts would continue to relocate the bird.

    "It is unlikely that we will ever know what caused the transmissions to cease, but it is time to harden up to the reality that the penguin has returned to the anonymity from which he emerged," he said.


    DNEWS VIDEO: Find out what it's like to study penguins in Antarctica.
    Happy Feet, was released into the water from the New Zealand fisheries vessel Tangaroa near Campbell Island, about 435 miles south of New Zealand's South Island.

    The three-and-a-half year old male's home in Antarctica was about 1242 miles further south and the hope was that he would join up with other emperor penguins on the long voyage.

    Miskelly said in his blog about the bird that he had not given up hope of a happy ending for Happy Feet.

    "Maybe, just maybe, he will surprise us all by turning up at a monitored emperor penguin colony, where the transponder inserted under the skin on his thigh will remind us all that once upon a time, a long time ago, he was more than just another penguin," he said.

    Happy Feet was only the second emperor penguin ever recorded in New Zealand.

    He was close to death and needed surgery to remove sand and sticks from his stomach before he could be fattened up at Wellington Zoo on a diet of fish milkshakes, attracting international attention during his New Zealand sojourn.

    Attendance at the zoo almost doubled during his stay and there are plans for a book and documentary recounting his story.

  • #2
    Mmmm...

    Speaking of Erith:

    "It's not twinned with anywhere, but it does have a suicide pact with Dagenham" - Linda Smith

    Comment


    • #3
      I have never eaten a penguin, but I imagine it would taste like a midget in a tuxedo.
      There's nothing wrong with the dream, my friend, the problem lies with the dreamer.

      Comment


      • #4
        And how do you know what a midget tastes like?
        A lot of Republicans are not racist, but a lot of racists are Republican.

        Comment


        • #5
          He probably hunts pygmies in the Congo for vacation.
          If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
          ){ :|:& };:

          Comment


          • #6
            I do travel, and have tried 'ethic' foods.
            There's nothing wrong with the dream, my friend, the problem lies with the dreamer.

            Comment


            • #7
              I only eat penguin burgers because they are the best burgers.
              Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Uncle Sparky View Post
                I do travel, and have tried 'ethic' foods.
                You probably think ethnic food is pizza.
                Try http://wordforge.net/index.php for discussion and debate.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Oerdin View Post
                  You probably think ethnic food is pizza.
                  It is in Antarctica.
                  There's nothing wrong with the dream, my friend, the problem lies with the dreamer.

                  Comment

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