The penguin returns to the sea after a long journey from Antarctica to Australia

The only emperor penguin known to have swum from Antarctica to Australia was released into the sea 20 days after washing ashore on a popular tourist beach, officials said Friday.

The adult male was found in November. 1 in the Ocean Beach sand dunes in the town of Denmark in temperate southwestern Australia – about 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) north of the icy waters off the coast of Antarctica, the Western Australian state government said. He was released by a Parks and Wildlife Service boat on Wednesday.

The boat traveled several hours from the state’s southernmost city, Albany, before the penguin was released into the Southern Ocean, but the government did not give the distance in its statement.

He had been cared for by registered wildlife keeper Carol Biddulph, who named him Gus after the first Roman emperor Augustus.

“I really didn’t know if he was going to make it at first because he was so malnourished,” Biddulph said in a video recorded before the bird’s release but released by the government on Friday.

“I will miss Gus. It’s been an incredible few weeks, something I wouldn’t have missed,” she added.

Biddulph said he had found from caring for other solitary penguin species that mirrors were an important part of their rehabilitation by providing a comforting sense of companionship.

“He absolutely loves his big mirror and I think that has been crucial in his well-being. They are social birds and he stays by the mirror most of the time,” she said.

Gus gained weight under her care, from 21.3 kilograms (47 pounds) when he was found to 24.7 kilograms (54 pounds). He is 1 meter (39 inches) tall. A healthy male emperor penguin can weigh more than 45 kilograms (100 pounds).

The largest penguin species has never been reported in Australia before, University of Western Australia researcher Belinda Cannell said, although some had made it to New Zealand, almost all are further south than Western Australia.

The government said that with the Southern Hemisphere summer approaching, it was very important to return Gus to the ocean where he could thermoregulate.

Emperor penguins are known to cover up to 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) on foraging trips that last up to a month, the government said.