There will be no lift back to Antarctica for a young penguin who defied the odds by swimming all the way to New Zealand.

An Antarctic Emperor penguin took a wrong turn and ended up stranded on a New Zealand beach.

Rescuers today began moving the 24 survivors of a pod of 80 pilot whales that stranded themselves on a remote northern New Zealand beach to a more sheltered area in an attempt to save them.

At least 40 out of 80 pilot whales stranded on a remote northern New Zealand beach have died, and more whales are joining them on land, officials warned today.

Police in New Zealand are inquiring into reports that a boisterous teenage dolphin with a reputation for stealing surfboards and balls from swimmers has been attacked with a paddle after annoying a canoeist.

A plant thought to be near extinction has been found growing abundantly on an island off New Zealand.

Wildlife officers shot 41 pilot whales beached on New Zealand’s South Island, ending their suffering after the sea was deemed to rough to try to rescue them.

Thirty tourists watched in horror today as a New Zealand diver was struck and killed by a whale he was trying to free from a fishing line.

RESCUERS pushing and dragging whales managed to refloat 39 members of a beached pod during high tide yesterday as dozens of other whales lay dead on a remote island off southern New Zealand, officials said.

Rescuers refloated 39 pilot whales at high tide, but dozens more died today after a pod beached on a remote island off southern New Zealand.