Wayward New Zealand Penguin Might've Been Chomped by a Killer Whale [Penguins]

Of course the little infidel is lost again. Just a week after being shoved out a boat and forced to swim all the way back to Antartica, Happy Feet the penguin's gone off the reservation, and his satellite tracker's dead.

The transmitter stopped sending signals on Friday, and there are only really two possibilities here: Either the device fell off or the little Lilliputian interloper found his way into the belly of a sea predator.

While experts think it's unlikely that he'd run into an orca or a leopard seal, they'd also be surprised if the device fell off since it was attached to his feathers with... wait, super glue? Apparently it's commonly used in tracking penguins, and it shouldn't have fallen off until he molted in a few months, but it's been known to happen.

Look, I'm with you: I love when adorable, globally-beloved animals get eaten by large creatures of the sea. But super glue won't even keep my bedroom shelves together, and they wanted it to hold this transmitter in place on a swim to Antartica? Nothing to see here, folks; the little jerk's probably sipping frozen herring cocktails in the Bahamas by now. [Stuff via Daily What]

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Track This Adorable Penguin as He Swims from New Zealand to Antartica [Video]

Back in June, an Antarctic emperor penguin took one heck of a wrong turn and ended up in New Zealand, 2,000 miles off course. Now the little interloper is finally on his way back to where he belongs, and you can track him as he goes.

The penguin—sadistically named "Happy Feet" by his Kiwi captors—finally wore out his welcome this weekend, when the caretakers who had originally rescued him strapped a satellite transmitter to him and shoved him out the back of a boat. His trip home had been delayed because of especially bad weather during New Zealand's winter, but he managed a pretty impressive 75km in his first day of travel. You can follow his progress on a site set up to show his latest position on a map, and who knows, maybe the little fool takes another wrong turn and ends up in China this time. [Sirtrack via NPR, TVNZ]

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New Zealand Plans to Build a Recyclable Church [Architecture]

The magnitude 6.3 earthquake that struck Christchurch, New Zealand in February demolished the town's cathedral, which had stood since 1864. Now, Japanese architect Shigeru Ban is building them a temporary replacement—out of cardboard.

The structure will stand nearly 80 feet tall—roughly the same height as the original cathedral—accommodate up to 700 people, and be used by community and musical groups. Each of the 86 water- and fire-resistant cardboard tubes that make up the roofline weighs over 1000 pounds and will be built locally—as will the main stained glass window—while the foundation will be constructed from shipping containers.

The Christchurch city council has yet to decide on a location for the building but hope to have the $3.5 million structure erected by the one year anniversary of the earthquake on February 22nd, 2012. It will take about three months to assemble and is expected to stand for about a decade, until the original Anglican church can be rebuilt. [The Telegraph via Architectizer]

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