Skipper and the gang are escaped captives. They are fugitives. They are, in the most literal sense, lost .

If you are a child of the early 2000s—or the parent of one—you know the names: Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private. The elite strike force from The Penguins of Madagascar has been living rent-free in my head since 2008. So, when I booked a bucket-list trip to last month, I made a logical (read: sleep-deprived) assumption: Snow + water + cool birds = Penguins.

"No," I said, pulling up a GIF of Skipper slapping Kowalski. "These guys."

Searching for the Penguins of Madagascar in Alaska: A Cautionary Tale of Film-Induced Geography

I was wrong. Horrifically, comically wrong.