13 Animals Who Were in the Wrong Place at the Right Time

Ah, the beginning. Yes, let’s go back to the beginning. It was March, and the penguins had begun walking places. Let us first discuss the concept of walking penguins. When penguins, in particular these penguins, walk, they confidently lead with their chests while appearing to be falling down horizontally in a forward motion—this is just science. And on March 23, when we first learned penguins could walk through places during the global pandemic, we all watched in awe and said in unison, “Ah, man, I wish I could also walk through an aquarium right now,” even if we had never stepped foot inside one in our lives.

Penguins in the Amazon?! 🐧🌴

Some of the penguins went on a field trip to meet other animals at Shedd. Wellington seemed most interested in the fishes in Amazon Rising! The black-barred silver dollars also seemed interested in their unusual visitor. pic.twitter.com/KgYWsp5VQD

— Shedd Aquarium (@shedd_aquarium) March 15, 2020

The Florida penguins weren’t the only penguins that would be going on adventures during lockdown time. Here, we have Wellington, who is seen here enjoying a fish exhibit at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. The walking trend was growing popularity amongst penguins—and the craze was only just beginning.

Wellington did not JUST walk, however—he doubled down and met a beluga whale, as well.

we got another walker, people! https://t.co/chOWs9XSXf

— fodorstravel (@fodorstravel) April 14, 2020

A Milwaukee rock iguana was the next creature to wander about an aquarium, keeping up the recent trend of animals loving to be in aquariums, all of a sudden. Though, to be completely fair, although the iguana did get his exercise while walking about the building, he was mostly interested in the snacks given to him by his handlers (relatable).

As more and more penguins began walking all over the world, in Missouri, they were also beginning to go to museums. Shortly after penguins in Illinois and Florida waddled about the aquariums, these new penguins from the Kansas City Zoo had a morning at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, one-upping the aquarium penguins by proving THEIR tastes were even classier by spending some time looking at fine art.

The trend, of course, spread overseas after this, as these Singapore penguins were the next walkers to walk about. There is video footage of the penguins walking through an “obstacle course” (a sandbox with toys in it) followed by photos (no video) of the little guys walking around the Singapore Zoo, including bravely posing with the statue of a sea lion (which are known villains to penguins, as they eat them).

As the animals parading about became a worldwide trend, more species joined in, including some supposed “shy eels” in Tokyo, Japan. It was announced that the Tokyo aquarium was requesting that patrons facetime these shy eels, as they were becoming too shy due to lack of human interaction. This being an extremely relatable feeling right now, these animals indeed found themselves in an unusual place, indeed—our hearts.

Are they criminals or vigilantes? Who’s to say– https://t.co/SSy5w5NboS

— fodorstravel (@fodorstravel) March 30, 2020

Mischief was afoot in the deserts of the southwest in late March, when a pair of javelinas were caught trying to burglarize a tractor supply store (not a Home Depot) in Carefree, Arizona. The two thieves stood outside the store, eating unpurchased bags of animal feed in the wee hours of the morning. While these hogs are known to live around the Carefree area, this is the first report of them trying to break the law at a tractor store.

The penguins-in-wrong-places trend caught on globally and penguins in Edmonton, Canada, were also beginning to walk places—and their interests were expanding. Now, the penguins were shopping. Two penguins waddled about the West Edmonton Mall, but something was different this time. More were joining in the fun. Here, we see our first looks at an iguana also enjoying some free time around the mall, as well as a tortoise. It wasn’t just penguins having a good time anymore, and anything was possible.

the heart wants what it wants https://t.co/NuEuLvZGmk

— fodorstravel (@fodorstravel) April 21, 2020

First, goats invaded Wales and stood on some walls. Then, the sheep followed suit started being places they normally weren’t on April 21, when a whole flock was found appearing to just be waiting outside of a McDonald’s in Ebbw Vale in Wales, England. Unrelated and across the country, another flock of sheep was found wandering around a children’s playground in Monmouthshire.

Well, well, well, look who’s walking about again, https://t.co/oOdleKW6J9

— fodorstravel (@fodorstravel) April 20, 2020

It wasn’t long until penguins made their return to the spotlight, and once again were walking around everywhere. And this time, it wasn’t just inside places that the penguins were taking over by walking all over the place—it was outside ones, as well. These penguins from Cape Town doubled down in late April and didn’t walk around any building at all—in a brazen move, they just straight-up walked the streets, outside.

What’re we doing today, boys, hiking? We hiking? Very good, very good. https://t.co/Jc8A70a7D4

— fodorstravel (@fodorstravel) May 6, 2020

Then, on May 7, penguins from the Oregon Zoo (that’s right—yet ANOTHER location) took a trip outside to a local wooded area, to go on a little hike with some zookeepers.

On May 11, a different sort of visitor ran through the halls of an animal habitat to “say hello” (or perhaps to deliver a message that the uprising was coming, who knows what to believe, really). The Colchester Zoo in England filmed a speedy armadillo as he skitted around the outside of a chimpanzee enclosure, seeming to just have a good and fast time as the chimpanzees looked puzzled as to what the heck this little moving rock was even doing. Or, that is the story the zoo wants you to believe, anyway, with the circus-like, whimsical music they had accompanying the video. There is no reason to suspect foul play, however, I am very bored lately and therefore am suspecting it anyway. I will let you know if we find anything out about what was really going on with the communication between Gomez the armadillo and the chimpanzees.

It was mid-May when 200 goats busted through a fenced enclosure and invaded a neighborhood in San Jose, California. They descended into the suburban streets all at once, a few of them stopping to munch on some plants and flowers in peoples’ front yards. Within a few minutes, the goats were back in their enclosure and all was well once more, besides the goat droppings dispersed amongst the streets and some unlucky potted plants falling victim to their chomping mouths.

Soon enough, it wasn’t just the land being bombarded by animals being places they usually were not. Take, for example, when this whale calf ventured into the shallow waters of New Zealand’s Wellington’s Aotea Quay—this guy swam right up to the boat, which, for whales, is very unusual. There were several instances of sea creatures swimming through the Venetian canals—a jellyfish was spotted in the no-longer-polluted canal waters. Fish and ducks also took to the canals, with residents commenting that they had never seen ducks in Venice’s waters before now. An octopus was even spotted and recorded near Piazzale Roma.