The Penguin Video & Why It Stuck With Me

Recently, there’s been a viral clip circulating online from a nature documentary about penguins. In the scene, a group of penguins are moving together towards open water to feed, following a familiar and expected route. However, one penguin stands out. Instead of heading towards the water or returning to the colony, it turns away and begins walking alone in the opposite direction, towards the mountains, 70 kilometres away.

The documentary explains that even if the penguin were caught and returned to the colony, it would immediately turn back and continue towards the mountains. No clear reason is given. That unanswered question is what has captured people’s attention online. Viewers have started projecting meaning onto the moment, with comments comparing the penguin’s behaviour to feelings of restlessness, curiosity, and the urge to move towards something unknown. One comment that has been posted over and over again read: “I am a bird, yet I can’t fly. So I’ll climb the mountains, so I may still touch the sky.”

As someone who travels frequently and feels a strong pull towards movement, nature, and the wider world, this moment resonated deeply with me. The penguin’s choice feels irrational from the outside, yet emotionally understandable. It represents the tension between safety and instinct, between following the expected path and choosing something uncertain. While this video is not something I intend to directly reference in my final project, it has become a useful metaphor for how I currently feel, and for the kinds of themes I’m drawn to exploring.

What interests me most is how people connected to this story so strongly, despite it being about an animal. It highlights how narratives of longing, and deviation from the norm are universal. This emotional response reinforces my interest in travel not as tourism or consumption, but as instinct, something driven by curiosity, desire, or the need to experience something beyond the familiar.