Feathered friends! Photos of widowed penguins comforting each other with an embrace wins praise from social media users who say it’s the ‘cutest thing they’ve ever seen’
- Photographer Tobias Baumgaertner captured the penguins in Melbourne
- Said he spent three nights with penguin colony to capture the unique moment
- Explained the penguins were widowed and spent hours comforting each other
- Touching moment went viral on Instagram where Tobias’ followers swooned
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Photographs of two widowed penguins comforting each other have warmed social media users hearts amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Photographer Tobias Baumgaertner captured the images while spending three nights camping out at a fairy penguin colony in Melbourne, Australia.
In the sweet snaps, an elderly female penguin and a younger male stand side by side, gazing at the skyline. Both have lost their partners.
The adorable pictures, shared on Instagram, touched the heart of Tobias’s followers and others, who were left ‘crying’ at the shots.
Tobias Baumgaertner explained he spent three nights with a Fairy Penguins colony in Melbourne to capture the pictures of two penguins hugging at night, watching over the city’s lights (pictured)
The snaps quickly went viral, with many people swooning over the adorable pictures of the penguins
Tobias said he captured the moment a year ago while staying with a colony of penguins in St Kilda, but wanted to share it during ‘these dark times.’
The photographer explained the pair would stand together, ‘flipper to flipper’ for hours, watching the skyline and ocean.
‘A volunteer approached me and told me that the white one was an elderly lady who had lost her partner and apparently so did the younger male to the left,’ he recounted.
‘Since then they meet regularly comforting each other and standing together for hours watching the dancing lights of the nearby city.’
Tobias revealed that the two penguins had each lost their partners and were comforting each other by hugging at night (pictured)
Tobias added getting the picture had been a feat of its own, due to the fact the penguins keep moving.
‘Between not being able or allowed to use any lights and the tiny penguins continuously moving, rubbing their flippers on each other’s backs and cleaning one another, it was really hard to get a shot,’ he wrote.
‘But I got lucky during one beautiful moment. I hope you enjoy this moment as much as I did.’
In a subsequent post, Tobias revealed more about the two penguins’s story.
The photographer said the two penguins stood out from the rest of the colony by the love and solidarity they exuded for each other (pictured)
‘The way that these two lovebirds were caring for one another stood out from the entire colony.
‘While all the other penguins were sleeping or running around, those two seemed to just stand there and enjoy every second they had together, holding each other in their flippers and talking about penguin stuff,’ he wrote.
‘Pain has brought them together. I guess sometimes you find love when you least expect it. It’s a privilege to truly love someone, paradisaical when they love you back,’ he concluded.
Online, some people wrote they were ‘crying’ at how sweet the pictures of the two penguins were
The sweet pictures captured the attention of many, with some people saying they were ‘crying’ at how sweet Tobias’s story was.
‘This is the cutest thing I have ever seen,’ one said.
‘This is just beyond beautiful, I’m so crying right now,’ said another.
‘I love this so much,’ commented another.