Throwback To When This Photo Of Fairy Penguins Comforting Each Other Moved Us To Tears

A photo of two widowed penguins cuddling each other while admiring the Melbourne skyline struck a chord among many online.

The photographer, Tobias Baumgaertner, had reportedly snapped the moment in 2019, but only shared the images later on in 2020 to commemorate World Penguin Day which falls on April 25.

Instagram/tobiasvisuals

He wrote: "Here is a short video of the two penguins which have recently touched so many hearts around the world. "While standing on the rock and facing the Melbourne skyline, they are surrounded by the calls of hundreds of other little fairy penguins. May these two bring even more love into your lives!"

Every year, April 25 is celebrated as World Penguin Day to mark the annual northern migration of Adelie penguins¡ªone of the 18 penguin species¡ªthat are native to Antarctica. The day aims to spread awareness about these flightless aquatic birds that are mostly found in the southern hemisphere.

"A volunteer approached me and told me 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," Tobias wrote.

View this post on Instagram

- Happy World Penguin Day - Here is a short video of the two penguins which have recently touched so many hearts around the world. While standing on the rock and facing the Melbourne skyline, they are surrounded by the calls of hundreds of other little fairy penguins. May these two bring even more love into your lives! I am a dreamer,... I believe that it is important to have dreams as they make life worth living and give love meaning. I previously shared these penguin images to spread love because that, I believed, is what the world needed most right now. It was never intended to be scientifically accurate as it was quite obviously romanticized by adding my personal feelings of being separated from and longing for the one I can¡¯t live without. I wrote these words from the bottom of my heart and never expected so many people to connect with them. Like with anything else in life too much of one thing has the potential to become dangerous and while we don¡¯t know what goes on in these little penguins I¡¯ve been advised by the scientific community that anthropomorphizing animals can have a negative influence on them as it ¡°can... lead to inappropriate behaviors towards wild animals¡±. This is especially the case for animals living in such close proximity to the city as they are already dealing with various challenges. I have further been adviced that these two could be related, ...the exact relation of these two is at this point probably hard to figure out but i am happy to hear that if they are not friends then they might at least be family. Either way I believe that this was a truly beautiful and magical moment that spread so much love around the world. I also believe that humans protect what they can connect with and it acts as a reminder that we share this beautiful world with many other beings which come in various shapes and sizes, degrees of fluffiness and colors as well as with specific needs crucial for their survival. It presents us with just one of many reasons why we should protect the ones with no voice to stand up for themselves and most importantly it has shown us that if we care and come together we could change the world... CONTINUE IN COMMENTS...

A post shared by Tobias Baumgaertner (@tobiasvisuals) on Apr 24, 2020 at 7:13pm PDT

After spending three nights in this penguins colony, Tobias finally managed to capture the love and comfort in this picture.

Looking back at the feel of the picture, he further added, "During times like this, the truly lucky ones are those that can be with the person/people they love most."

Instagram/tobiasvisuals

Touching on his original post, he went on to write: "I previously shared these penguin images to spread love because that, I believed, is what the world needed most right now."

"It was never intended to be scientifically accurate as it was quite obviously romanticized by adding my personal feelings of being separated from and longing for the one I can't live without. I wrote these words from the bottom of my heart and never expected so many people to connect with them."