Fearless Antarctic Animals Curiously Walk Up to Researchers to Say Hello!

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Typically when we think of a fearless animal, our minds go to the lion, tiger, leopard, or even bear. However, sometimes the smallest of animals can have the least amount of fear when they encounter people passing by. After all, it’s not every day that animals in the Antarctic get to see humans standing on their beach. Let’s not miss this interaction in the video above! 

Penguin Sighting in the Antarctic

The short YouTube clip shown at the top of this blog post takes us to the freezing cold land of Antarctica. The World Travel Guides YouTube page filmed and then shared this video on their channel. This page is committed to offering travel from all around the world including Costa Rica, India, Greece, and Croatia. 

Penguins Getting Close to Researchers

At the start of this video clip, we see that a group of researchers have traveled 600 nautical miles to Antarctica. They are there to study a variety of animals such as whales and penguins. These researchers refer to themselves as Naturalists.  

According to the University of California, Santa Cruz, “A naturalist is someone who spends time outdoors, records observations, and develops a knowledge of nature while being interested in, and observant of, all taxa.” 

They brought researchers along who would assist with tagging whales. They do this so they can study how whales in the Antarctic live. In addition to studying whales, they also had researchers who knew about penguins. 

The lady who is documenting this clip starts out by sharing her shock at how comfortable the penguins were to walk up to each of the researchers and seemingly say “Hi” to all. She states, “Coming from a tropical country where the animals are always running away from you, having animals to come to me was a big surprise.” Let’s dive in to learn a little bit more about the penguin.

Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) Facts

A penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) is a flightless bird that lives in Antarctica. Their appearance is black and white. It is commonly referred to as a “tuxedo appearance.” They have a range of sizes that go anywhere from 2-100 pounds. 

These birds are extremely sociable animals and live in large groups. On land, these groups are often referred to as a waddle, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Penguins are known to be dedicated to their own territory. As such they will hunt in their territory on both land and in the water. As carnivores, they will hunt for prey such as fish, crabs, squid, and krill. 

These animals are also known to be very friendly animals. And as we can see from the video posted at the top they were so friendly it actually shocked researchers.