Two penguins are stealing the hearts of the internet after being photographed appearing to comfort each other as they stared up at the night sky.
Photographer Tobias Baumgaertner took the images in St Kilda, Melbourne, back in 2019, but they didn’t garner viral attention until this weekend, when they went viral.
Tobias shared the photos on his own Instagram page last month, explaining how both penguins had lost their partners and turned to each other for comfort.
To that end, the animals had been stood beside one another to watch the ‘dancing lights’ of the Melbourne skyline.
“During times like this the truly lucky ones are those that can be with the person/people they love most. I captured this moment about a year ago,” Tobias’ post reads.
“These two Fairy penguins poised upon a rock overlooking the Melbourne skyline were standing there for hours, flipper in flipper, watching the sparkling lights of 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. Since then they meet regularly comforting each other and standing together for hours watching the dancing lights of the nearby city.”
The post exploded when it was uploaded to Twitter, garnering over 125,000 likes in 24 hours, as well as 39,000 retweets.
Tobias, thank you so much for sharing these pictures with the world – they are truly fantastic!
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