The Suicidal Penguin that captured the internet 🐧🇦🇶

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-15

[00:00:02]I told them I kept wondering why is it that human beings put on masks or feathers to conceal their identity and why do they settle horses and feel the urge to chase the bad guy?

[00:00:27]HEY AROUND IT'S ABOUT TIME TO GET READY.

[00:00:50]I can live or get good day Cali. I'm Oussie and welcome to Wild Watches 7. You're probably wondering what happened to Ray and I, for one don't know. That plot hole is getting filled in the Mars video, so I don't think they've even written the script yet. The only reason I'm out here freezing my bum off is because of the south pole bipolar penguin taken the world by snowstorm.

[00:01:15]Kind of like how Scotty had the rush for that mood end trend back in 2024.

[00:01:19]Similarly, a segment from Werna Herszog's encounters at the end of the world documentary depicting a seemingly suicidal Adelite penguin rushing towards the mountain has become its own meme. He doesn't go towards the feeding colony nor the penguin colony instead choosing to reject everything that would keep him alive. So naturally, as a channel that reviews and follows the process a docu covers, we decided to do the same with encounters at the end of the world.

[00:01:48]>> No, I am.

[00:01:50]>> Yeah, I got an idea. I want to see the penguin.

[00:02:16]So before we talk about the nihilistic penguin, we have to talk about Airzog's 2007 documentary as a whole. And just on reading description, it's pretty clear didn't want to just make another film about fluffy penguins.

[00:02:26]>> Everyone spoke about penguins. However, the questions I had were not so easily answered. a trend that seemed appropriate for the late 2000s.

[00:02:36]Honestly, it felt like penguins were everywhere. Happy Feet came out in 2006, Surfs Up the same year in 2007, Happy Feet 2 in 2011, and Surfs Up to actually surf up to the Penguins of Madagascar would end up sending Airzong to parody himself about 7 years later in 2014.

[00:02:53]>> Tiny and helpless, the baby penguins are frozen with fear. They know if they fall from this cliff, they will surely die.

[00:03:03]Ga, give them a shove.

[00:03:06]>> Harnessing the jellyfish we've trained to obey simple voice commands.

[00:03:10]>> When the filmmakers push the penguins off the cliff, it's actually a reference to Disney's White Wilderness in 1958, where the filmmakers shove several lemmings off the cliff, claiming it was some bizarre suicide ritual. So, if you ever heard that lemmings commit suicide by jumping off cliffs, that's that's where the myth comes from. Thanks a lot, Disney. The Penguins of Madagascar film says the phrase fluffy penguins over the course of the movie to showcase their futility.

[00:03:32]>> Well, it's a dangerous world out there, and we're just penguins, you know, nothing but cute and cuddly.

[00:03:38]>> Yeah. Why do you think there are always documentary crews filming us?

[00:03:43]>> Anyone who's watched that movie knows that the polar bear, seal, snowy owl, and the Benedict Cumberbatch wolf, all apex predators, constantly undermine and underestimate the fluffy penguin's capabilities.

[00:03:53]>> Cute and cuddly.

[00:03:56]I'm sorry.

[00:03:57]>> Look at them tumbling onto their chubby bomb bombs. Who could take these frisky little snow clowns seriously?

[00:04:05]>> It's this that inspires the penguins in Madagascar to spite them. I also find it funny that they chose Benedict Cumberbatch for a penguin movie when he is notoriously famous for being unable to say the word penguin.

[00:04:15]>> Explain this. Explain this. Ben Cumberbatch, this is odd. Of all the questions we had, yeah, the one that came up most often was ask Benedict to say the word penguin.

[00:04:29]>> What is this about?

[00:04:30]>> Well, apparently I got it wrong repeatedly in a documentary. It wasn't a documentary about said animal. It was it was a documentary about I think about the South Pacific in general. And now I'm completely terrified of the word. Um I don't go near it.

[00:04:45]>> Well, no, because I know here's the thing. I thought or I'm sure they're making it up but we actually look at this documentary. So the documentary is called >> the documentary is called Strange Islands. The first one you sort of get away with and then after that you lose all sense of what it let's have a look. Listen carefully.

[00:05:03]>> And the last thing you might expect to see here is penguins.

[00:05:11]These are fjordland crested penguins named after this corner of South New Zealand.

[00:05:18]So why are these woodlands so attractive to penguins?

[00:05:23]A freshwater stream through the forest makes a handy highway for a parent penguin heading home from the fishing trip.

[00:05:30]>> What is like penguins? Tiny penguins and terrifying in equal measure. Anyway, I'll play the actual clip that's been going so viral.

[00:05:43]>> These penguins are all heading to the open water to the right.

[00:05:52]But one of them caught our eye, the one in the center.

[00:05:57]He would neither go towards the feeding grounds at the edge of the ice nor return to the colony.

[00:06:06]Shortly afterwards, we saw him heading straight towards the mountains, some 70 km away.

[00:06:16]Dr. Anley explained that even if he caught him and brought him back to the colony, he would immediately head right back for the mountains.

[00:06:28]But why? Well, the documentary itself does have elements of fluffy penguins. I I must say it's very different from any documentary I've ever covered before.

[00:06:37]While Nihilistic Adelaide Penguin itself is only 1% of the hour and a half runtime, almost 99% of it is philosophical moments like this in the cold Arctic. Winter Airzog, a German filmmaker, has been a household name in documentary creation. So me sitting down to actually watch possibly his most famous work was actually a huge culture shock. While yes, the film gets very philosophical, it also is very mundane.

[00:06:59]It's everyday people going to their everyday job and working their 9 to5.

[00:07:03]The film opens with an epic opera piece preparing for his trip to the great white south. But all that filler is extremely mundane. Mundane, not boring.

[00:07:12]I know this is coming from the same dude who makes crappy YouTube brain rot shorts. But if you expand your attention, what you'll end up seeing is the film is ultimately about everyday life. People from all walks of life trying their best to make a living in the coldest place on Earth. That's not to say that the setting or occupation is mundane. Contrary, it's honestly one of the coolest things. Scott Roland is the name of the driver who operates Ivan.

[00:07:34]Ivan isn't a person, but a giant terror bus that they used to transport the people all across the island of MCMO.

[00:07:40]And then there's Samuel Bowser, a research diver on the brink of retirement who films and photographs alien creatures in the harshest of hypothermic waters. Before going to the mainland of Antarctica, training instructor Kevin Emmery shows the process that all the participants have to go through before they can actually venture into such extreme conditions.

[00:07:57]They put buckets over their head to replicate snow blindness during a blizzard. And on the final day, you make and build your own igloo to sleep in for the night, which may seem very extreme, but you have civilization right next to in case of an emergency. The luxury happy campers wouldn't have when brought to the mainland. Some of the harshest jobs are the struggles literally any other 9 to5 only amplified by the environment. And when looking closer, that's exactly what it is.

[00:08:20]>> One of humanity's biggest fears, >> a job.

[00:08:25]>> A job.

[00:08:28]>> Nothing but a mundane job. And that's the point. Encounters of the End of the World isn't exclusively about fluffy penguins. It's about the culture. The culture of a continent so desolate, so uninhabitable, that the idea that people find a way to live there seems completely implausible. Same with the animals. The idea that life could even exist in these waters, that birds somehow migrated over here, that seals did, is all improbable. It's something so human, so mundane about the documentary that it becomes relatable.

[00:08:57]To put in what may be pushing it, I feel like the entire documentary is like a vlog. It's get ready with me while I film Penguins. It's extremely mundane, and that's the point. To clarify, I am not at all criticizing air style. It's at its core about the message and showcasing what the people feel. A point to where anyone can relate with the researchers who choose to work in such antagonistic conditions. You have the bus driver taking you to work, hitting all the stops. We have the veteran co-orker who's showing you the ropes and is just saving up for retirement. We have the training seminar putting you through tests to evaluate if you're fit for the job. It's the most desolate and coldest place on the planet. Yet, despite being nothing but ice caps and ocean, Antarctica is considered a desert, not because of its temperature, but the lack of drinkable water. And yet, we have penguins and even people setting up camp to explore the unexplorable. Arzog is showcasing the humanity within an absolutely unforgiving environment. It's this that educates us in a new way. While we do learn about the animals and the breathtaking landscape, learning about the culture is what helps us see the film as you experiencing Antarctica's culture with Airzog and the team. Going through that same mundanity together.

[00:10:05]>> But why?

[00:10:06]>> Why? Why would they go here at the end of the world where your blood starts to flow? It's flowing from the chill and actively leading humanity to head to the farthest corner of the earth. The difference being those people plan to go back to their families. But niilistic penguin doesn't. Back to what I was saying about philosophy and fluffy penguins. Azizog's film is philosophical because he himself is what I would call a modern philosopher. We see Antarctica through his lens. He's showcasing the jolly of the work and the philosophy that comes with science. Being in a traditional undocumented place in a field where you're encouraged to ask questions. You yourself become a philosopher. You yourself ask why. I'm not exaggerating when I say philosophy is heavily tied to the film. Many of the workers have the tag philosopher along with their actual occupation. It it doesn't require a portfolio to ask questions, so it's pretty easy job to land. The idea of asking why is prevalent because as the video goes, Azog asks >> why >> why would he choose to go away from the Adelaide colony and away from the ocean towards ultimately annihilation. It's not unsurprising that penguins and birds as a whole are capable of complex thought. Sven and Magic, two male Gentu penguins, were seen at the Sydney Zoo building a nest together during breeding season, reflecting same-sex coupling in penguin society. Additionally, during the coronavirus pandemic, penguins were displayed getting depressed at the absence of people in the Chicago aquarium. They later being allowed to roam around their exhibit. The concept that a penguin can get depressed shows pattern recognition. The idea of a penguin being gay shows complex thinking and going against biological urges to mate with a female.

[00:11:37]>> What? Why are you filming me? That doesn't even apply. What the >> I was told that he was a tessier man who in his solitude was not much into conversation with humans anymore.

[00:11:53]But Dr. Anley gave his best effort.

[00:11:59]I tried to keep the conversation going.

[00:12:02]Dr. Anley, I I read somewhere that there are gay penguins. What are your observations?

[00:12:11]>> The idea of a penguin going insane or having the equivalent of a mental breakdown wouldn't be far-fetched either. It's unknown why he went. Maybe he'd hit his head or lost his mate. But the idea is that we don't know with the internet labeling him a nihilist.

[00:12:30]In the 1980s, Wernner Airzog ate his shoe. Sorry, I don't know. I I didn't know how to implement that. I I don't I'm giving up [ __ ] Am I out of frame yet? I know I got a bunch of eyebrow raises when I compared Airzog to a blogger, but you can't tell me that wouldn't be a fire YouTube idea.

[00:12:47]>> Can we get this to 50 million likes and chunky will eat my chunka where was feeling a wee bit peckish as a as a certain Scottish stingray would say and decided to dine on his own shoe and film it for a 22minute short film. In actuality, he did this because he lost a bet and he got to basically record it and produce it in the film appropriately titled Where Arzog eats his shoe. Where Hezog and everything he does, he shows wonder and whimsy. While he can do a thousand landscape shots, he chooses to catch the bus driver and his friends watching a movie to showcase the human parts of his expedition. It's also why I think that portion of the film is so catching. Even opening up Winter Airog's Instagram, you can see the jolliness in his personality. Airzog to the South Pole as Santa Claus is to the North Pole. dude is grilling a steak, living his best life, and his reaction to everyone talking about his documentary is equally as wholesome.

[00:13:37]>> It's fascinating for me to see that a penguin that I filmed almost 20 years ago in Antarctica for my film encounters at the end of the world. It captures the fascination, imagination of so many people. And part of it is also my voice.

[00:13:58]I learned a lot from uh a crime TV series Unsolved Mysteries. There was this ominous voice and it says, for example, in the dentist returned home and his door was a jar and he finds blood everywhere and he knew there was something wrong, terribly wrong.

[00:14:20]And then he finds his wife at the floor in the kitchen, blood all over her. She was murdered, Paul. But why?

[00:14:32]>> People are calling this Adelaide penguin a nihilist because he's going against nature, going against common sense, going against someone as optimistic as Zog. Obviously, from a scientist standpoint, this is still really weird.

[00:14:43]But for winner, the man we've heard narrate a majority of film with a childlike wonder, it hurts even harder to see his own reaction and ask why. A lot of people are comparing themselves to nihilistic penguin and saying that you need to take that chance. But that's contrary to the entire idea of nihilism.

[00:14:59]Nihilist doesn't take chances because they don't think it would matter.

[00:15:02]Nihilism, the rejection of all religious and moral principles and the belief that life is ultimately meaningless. We call him a nihilist because he rejected life, not because he takes chances, but because he's given up. We relate to the nihilistic penguin not because we're reflecting his actions, but rather that a lot of us feel trapped by the illusion of choice. Sometimes a goal is so far that it would seem futile to even try.

[00:15:25]But of course, this is perfectly sane from a nihilist point of view because at the end of the day, we will all reach the same destination. Whether it's the elements or just your time running out, we will all inevitably die. So the question remains, but why? Why do we choose to keep living when we're all going to end up in the same place? Why choose to live when living is suffering?

[00:15:45]Why not succumb to the cold and let that suffering end? No worrying for the next meal. No running from the next predator, just >> and more importantly, why choose to go to this desolate continent so far from home? Why choose pain over peace?

[00:15:59]Annihilist wouldn't choose to go towards the mountains because that's what he dreams of. He would go and try to end it all because existence is meaningless.

[00:16:07]The Optimus would be the one to venture out because that's his dream. So, when we're celebrating the tragedy of the nihilistic penguin, keep in mind that we're celebrating the journey, not the destination. The Optimus doesn't care about the destination. They live for the journey. The penguins of Madagascar went against nature because they're Otimus who sought adventure. In Happy Feet 2, we have a side plot of a couple krill deciding to go against nature to get into antics with a leopard seal. In Surf Sub, Cody wants to leave his colony in Antarctica to make it big as a professional surfer. These aren't just character motivations, they're dreams.

[00:16:43]In a world full of nihilistic penguins, be the Optimus penguin. The nihilus is right. We'll all eventually die. It's inevitable. Even if you're an immortal jellyfish, your time will eventually run out. The idea is to enjoy that time while you still can. It's the journey, not the destination.

[00:17:02]We all arrive at different times, born into this world with different circumstances, where we'll all be taken out by a leopard seal or an orca. But at the end of the day, enjoying your time here while making it enjoyable for others is what gives meaning to existence.

[00:17:18]>> Well, we are krill. We are meant to look the same. Not me, Bill. There's only one of me in all the world. I am one in a >> Oh, there's nothing but swarm. We are swarm without end. Everything's got an end. See, I end here. That is not a happy ending. It stands to reason, Bill.

[00:17:34]If I swim against the swarm, I must eventually reach the end of the world.

[00:17:51]Whatever tomorrow brings, be there with open arms and open eyes.

[00:18:12]Real lies. Real lies. The real lies.

[00:18:18]>> And terrifying in equal measure.

[00:18:28]>> Stepped on me. Stepped on me. Are you kidding? This guy was dancing on me. I mean, just look at this. Broken. Broken gun. Gun. Broken. Broken. Broken.

[00:18:47]Right.