In 2007, legendary director Werner Herzog released the documentary Encounters at the End of the World. While filming at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, he recorded a scene that deviated from every "cute" nature documentary trope ever made.

Herzog observed a colony of Adélie penguins heading toward the sea to feed. One penguin, however, stopped. It turned away from the water, away from the colony, and away from its food source. It began walking toward the vast, frozen interior of the continent, a journey of thousands of kilometers into certain death.

The "Nihilist Penguin" became famous because of Herzog’s narration and his refusal to intervene. He asked the scientists if there was such a thing as "insanity" among penguins. The experts explained that even if they caught the bird and brought it back to the shore, it would simply turn around and head back toward the mountains.

It wasn't lost; it had made a choice to exit its own world.