Baby Penguin Takes on Its Keeper's Shadow — *Busted at the End*

What's going on

At Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium (a penguin-specialist facility in Nagasaki, Japan that holds the world record for the number of penguin species kept in one place — currently nine), one of the keepers filmed what happened when they cast their shadow in front of a baby Humboldt penguin chick. What followed was a lot.

The chick — still in its soft juvenile down, not yet in adult plumage — locked onto that shadow with a focus that most humans could only aspire to. Side to side, up and down, it tracked every movement with uncanny precision, darting after the shadow like it was the most important thing in the world. And when the shadow disappeared, the chick simply wandered back to the keeper, then perked right back up the moment the shadow returned.

But then, right near the end, the penny dropped. The chick looked up. It found the keeper. The expression on that tiny face? Somewhere between “I figured you out” and “I am not happy about this.” Not everyone was ready for it.