One Well-Dressed Airlift Operation

Scientists aren't sure why nearly a thousand penguins got stranded far north of their normal migration area, on beaches along the equator in Brazil this year. It may have been unusual ocean currents.

Whatever the cause, a Brazilian Air Force plane was used to relocate more than 370 of them along Brazil's southern coast, closer to their normal habitat.

The Associated Press reports onlookers cheered as the young Magellanic penguins entered the ocean and quickly swam away, in what the International Fund for Animal Welfare called the largest penguin release ever in South America.

The penguins were prepared for their trip home at an animal rehabilitation center in the northeastern city of Salvador. Sadly, the IFAW notes many of the wayward travellers either died, or were too sick to be returned home.

Experts hope a small group of older penguins released along with the young ones will help guide them south to the Patagonia.

We don't know if you've ever visited the tropical beaches of equatorial Brazil... but we can only guess you'd feel really out of place dressed in a tux.

FMI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Air_Force