Whatever the poison of your favorite network, there’s a good chance you’ll probably see rockhopper stop for a quick chat before confusing the two groups of penguins split ways, if a member seems to recover following the wrong group (if you’re happy No, you can see the ridiculous moment in the video below). The footage shared earlier this month on The Southern Barlows’ YouTube channel, which slows down insights into the regular life of the Falkland Islands.
This rugged South Atlantic archipelago is like Glastonbury for the rockhoppers (Eudyptes chrysocome chrysocome), where 320,000 breeds are permanently added to the islands from mid-October to April for annual gatherings.
According to a report from Live Science, the rockhopper video by Klemens Pütz, scientific director of the Antarctic Research Trust in Bremervörde, Germany, has some anti-climatic explanations for the series.
He explained that the first group of fervently Happing Penguins was probably heading out to sea for a fishing spot, so he argued that the group they were coming from was returning home. The confusion begins as soon as the two groups merge and separate again, following Team Home and appearing as a member of Team Fish.
These are easy to anthropomorphize as humans (as shown in Bill Bailey’s timeless love song), but the nature of the animal tête-à-têtes is Pixar shorts we imagined them rarely give up all hope of altruistic penguin friends who read here later, as Pütz shows in the video I don’t think so.
Pütz said, “These are just a mix of penguins. And next time, they’re in a completely different group.” Rockhoppers are natural followers, and when two groups collide like this, there will inevitably be one or two animals that get in a muddle regardless of which direction they were headed, The penguin that appears to turn back and retrieve its friend is likely also just confused, Pütz continued, and it is highly unlikely the move motivated by altruism.
Pütz said, delivering the final fatal blow to this Falkland Fairytale, “I think it’s just a coincidence and appeared in the human eye in such a way that one penguin helps another and gets him back on track.”
Rockhoppers are extremely adept at identifying their mates or offspring, picking them from the thousands of near-identical animals that share nesting areas. The mating pair will perform a call and response routine, making the sounds and movements specific to their loved one. They will greet each other for years; even some animals even meet annually in their nest nests. Therefore, while this may not be the story of the benevolent penguin friendship in the Falklands, it does support a love story of the remote islands each year.
