Happy Feet the emperor penguin has vanished. Happy Feet became a celebrity when he got off track and arrived in New Zealand in June. The penguin was equipped with a monitoring device before his discharge in early September. Friday morning, the device quit transmitting. Some fear Happy Feet could have become food for a larger predator. Source of article: Happy Feet the penguin has gone AWOL2,000 miles off trackNamed after the popular animated film, Happy Feet grew to become a celeb in June when he got confused about his course and ended up in New Zealand instead of in Antarctica. Experts think the bird mistook sand for snow, ate it and got ill. He was nursed back to health over the summer at the Wellington Zoo.Put back where he belongedHappy Feet was about a quarter of the way from New Zealand to Antarctica on a research ship when he was released on September 4. A tracking system was put on the bird so he could be tracked for a couple of months.Didn’t get a transmissionJust like normal penguins looking for fish, Happy swam in a meandering fashion. He had traveled about 75 miles by Friday morning, just five days after his discharge, when the transmitter quit transmitting.PossibilitiesThere are a few predators penguins have to deal with. This contains killer whales, large sharks and opens sea. Kevin Lay of Sirtrack, the firm that fitted the device, said:<blockquote>"There are some species that will forage on emperor penguins. It's not likely that it has happened to Happy Feet because of the area he was in."</blockquote>It might have just fallen off. That is always a possibility. The New Zealand department of conservation’s Peter Simpson said:
"Who knows? He's probably swimming along quite happily without a transmitter on his back."
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