peek-a-boo
HEART-MELTING images of two pint-sized Adelie penguin chicks being fed by their mother.
Barely a week or two old and standing at just eight-inches tall, these hungry chicks captured in Brown Bluff in the Antarctic peninsula were showered with affection by their mum as she fed her hungry offspring.
The Adelie penguin is a species common along the entire coast of the Antarctic continent, which is the only place it is found.
Growing up to just over two feet tall, these are members of the littlest penguin species in the Antarctic.
Like most penguin species, they might look cute and a bit clumsy on land, but these birds are feisty.
They've been known to take on potential predators, seals or large seabirds, or even attack visiting researchers with their flippers.
These adorable images were taken by an Italian wildlife photographer living in London, Renato Granieri.
“I have been going to Antarctica for several years, and I feel privileged to witness the hatching on several occasions,” he told mediadrumworld.com.
“I was fascinated by the care the adult takes of the small chick.
“I took these images using a Nikon 500mm lens (long telephoto lens) from a distance of 16 feet.”
ENDs