If in many years some historian were to investigate how the world has started 2026, they would find one of those surprises that raise eyebrows: humanity (or at least that part of humanity that rubs shoulders on the Internet) has started the year fascinated by a “nihilistic penguin”.
With Ukraine at war, Trump threatening to annex Greenland to the US (by hook or by crook) and Nicolás Maduro detained In a New York prison, half the planet is dedicated to speculating why the hell one fine day in 2007 a palmiped from Antarctica undertook a suicidal trip that would have inspired himself Friedrich Nietzsche. It sounds bizarre, but it makes sense.
What the hell is that penguin doing? It sounds bizarre, but for weeks thousands of people around the world have been asking themselves that same question: What is that penguin doing? The bird in question is a Pygoscelis adeliaean ‘Adelia’ like there are thousands of them in Antarctica, but which about 19 years ago came across the German filmmaker’s cameras by pure chance Werner Herzog while recording his documentary ‘Encounters at the End of the World’.
The film lasts almost 100 minutes during which Herzog shows snowy plains, seals, underwater scenes and a multitude of frozen landscapes. At one point, however, his camera captured something curious, a detail that caught the attention of some critics years ago and now it has revolutionized half of the Network.
The scene shows an Adelie penguin doing something totally counterintuitive. Without us knowing very well why, the animal begins to walk with a firm step away from the rest of its flock, entering between frozen mountains. Ahead, nothingness. No company. No food. That is, death.
“But, why?“ The scene is shocking. First because it seems to go against the most basic common sense. At least the human one. Second, because of the surprising determination of the penguin, who sets off on his way without hesitation and only for a brief moment seems to stop to look at everything he leaves behind him.
The third reason why it has captivated half the Internet is because Herzog himself was in charge of giving it importance and highlighting its drama. “But why?” he wonders the German filmmaker in the narration that accompanies the scene. After all, he only has miles and miles and miles of barren land ahead of him that take him further and further away from the safety of his colony and food sources.
“It caught our attention. It wasn’t heading to the feeding grounds at the edge of the ice or returning to the colony. Shortly afterwards we saw it heading towards the mountains, 70 kilometers away. Dr Ainslie explained that even if he captured it and brought it back to the flock, it would return to the mountains. But… Why?” fascinated account Herzog. The full question would be a little longer: Why the hell would a penguin ignore its own survival instinct?
There must be a reason, right? That is exactly what the documentary filmmaker proposed at the time and it has been worrying half the world for weeks. There is who has speculated that the penguin perhaps had a problem that altered its orientation or an ailment that affected its behavior. There is even talk of possible changes at an environmental level or of a exploratory instinct unconventional.
If the panorama were not disturbing in itself, add Ainslie’s disturbing observation: it does not matter that Herzog or anyone else tried to correct their course. The animal would begin its deadly journey again almost instantly.
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Is this something so strange? The penguin’s attitude does. Our attempts to find an explanation that fits our way of seeing the world (often from a anthropocentric optics), No. We humans have been debating for some time whether animals have something similar to a sense of morality. For example, we ask ourselves if in episodes that seem to us cruel There is a latent intention or they are simply the result of instinct. We have even speculated on the possibility of “altruistic” behavior in fauna.
It may sound strange, but these are questions that have arisen in view of specific behaviors. A crow that finds a large amount of meat and decides warn others companions to share the feast, a whale investing time and energy in protect a seal harassed by killer whales, a duck that cares for a cub of another species, even putting itself in danger.
Are those animals being generous? Are they selfless or do they act motivated by an instinct that, ultimately, seeks the preservation of themselves and their species? These are issues so complex that they have even given rise to scientific studies.
What does it have to do with the penguin? Well, in recent weeks, after Herzog’s video once again gained popularity on the internet, many people have seen a 100% human attitude in the palmipede. Of course, one that has little or nothing to do with altruism or cruelty. What they appreciate is pure nihilismthe doctrine that embraces “nothingness” (hence its name, ‘nihil’) and denies the pillars on which philosophers have relied for centuries: the existence of religious, political and social principles and, in general, any foundation in morality.
There is no purpose. Not even life has a meaning like the one that religions have sought for centuries. And what does Herzog’s penguin do if he doesn’t embrace that very thing, nothingness? Does it not evoke, in words by journalist Adil Faouzi, “a willful desertion of the logic of life itself”? The animal recorded by Herzog seems to capture these ideas so well, to condense them in such a powerful way, that many have nicknamed it: the “nihilistic penguin”.
A little far-fetched, right? Depends. We do not know what motivated that small creature to undertake a journey towards its own death and who have tried Finding an explanation points (as we said before) to a possible illness or some type of alteration in your ability to orient yourself.
What is unquestionable is its symbolism. And that lends itself to more complex anthropocentric interpretations than it seems. One, particularly interesting one, I left her a little while ago Dr. Rebecca Marks in The Culture Dump. Beyond the romantic force of the scene, even its similarities with the famous canvas ‘Walker on the Sea of Fog’ (1818), by Caspar David Friedrich, Marks traces his connection to nihilism.
Why’s that? “There is an important link between Herzog’s Penguin and the works of Nietzsche. In simple terms, his idea about nihilism is that traditional sources of meaning, such as religion, have collapsed. That can be addressed in two ways,” reflect. “There is passive nihilism, where one resigns oneself to the lack of meaning. Secondly, there is active nihilism, where, in response to emptiness, you say: ‘Life has no meaning and, since life has no meaning, I reject the colony and embrace the environment in search of something higher. I create my own meaning.'”
Marks claims that the Antarctic creature represents this last position, that of the “active nihilist.” “What makes the penguin Nietzschean is not that he is suicidal (in fact Nietzsche would reject suicide), but that he refuses to live passively. He throws himself headlong into the void. The reason why this penguin resonates so strongly is because he has deviated from his nature,” the doctor insistswhich reminds us that Nietzsche’s philosophy invites us to “go beyond our nature.”
Are there more questions? Yes. Especially two. The first is whether the attitude of Herzog’s mysterious penguin lends itself to more interpretations, something that is easily answered by taking a look at the networks and the (many) authors who in recent days have begun to theorize about its erratic behavior.
Curiously there is who has seen something very different from a self-destructive and defeatist attitude. From his point of view, the animal’s journey can be understood as a demonstration of willpower, the ability to break ties, act with determination and find one’s own path.
And the other question? The other question is… If the video It was recorded almost 20 years ago.why the hell has it gone viral just now, in 2026? Marks suggests that the penguin’s behavior may have seemed suggestive to us just now because of the context: it arrives in “a world that is increasingly monitored” and beyond our control, one in which we fantasize about the possibility of moving away towards the plains. “Maybe it has something to do with the appeal of radical nonconformity,” he speculates.
The opposite could also happen and that Herzog’s penguin serves as “a symbol of alienation”, a figure in which we see our loneliness reflected. Be that as it may, one thing is clear: its visual power has not taken long to draw the attention of brands that have used it. to promote yourself. Even the White House has taken advantage of it for political purposes in their fight to dominate Greenland.
Whether we opt for one reading or another, that question that Herzog asked himself in a meditative tone behind the cameras will always be thrown out: “But, why?”
Image | Danielle Barnes (Unsplash)
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