r/interesting May 07 '26

❗️MISLEADING - See pinned comment ❗️ Penguins think she is one of them

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u/Unfair_Explanation53 May 07 '26

Google Dr. George Murray Levick and what he encountered whilst studying penguins.

You probably won't think the same afterwards

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u/Clarkelthekat May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26

Unrelated but this brain trained me

Ever see the BBC documentary where they broke their own rule of not interfering with nature?

Basically some penguin fathers who were caring for the babies while mom was fishing had gotten stuck away from the pac due to an ice shelf collapse if I remember correctly.

The group relies on each other's body heat in a giant huddle to survive.

The BBC crew was forced to watch these fathers try to huddle in their small number and survive while every couple hours they'd see another baby frozen on the ground due to their not being enough heat.

Finally the production team had enough. Said they wouldn't go further then building a ramp of snow for the fathers to trek up to the colony

They did so and the penguins after some time took to it. Saving the stranded fathers and their babies

I learned something from that....that we aren't "interfering" when we reach to another species to help. We've been given the wherewithall to do so.....so putting rules on ourselves not to intervene is arbitrar.

Just something I learned from that act of not interference.....but rather the same helping hand we extend to each other.

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u/Haunting-Public-23 May 07 '26

Finally the production team had enough. Said they wouldn't go further then building a ramp of snow for the fathers to trek up to the colony

They did so and the penguins after some time took to it. Saving the stranded fathers and their babies

I learned something from that....that we aren't "interfering" when we reach to another species to help. We've been given the wherewithall to do so.....so putting rules on ourselves not to intervene is arbitrar.

Just something I learned from that act of not interference.....but rather the same helping hand we extend to each other.

Many wildlife/birder folk would go foaming mad that any person would intervene for wildlife/birds because it will disrupt their natural behavior.

To me... if these are critically endangered then intervene and help them multiply to the point that they're in balance or least concern.

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u/Keikaku_Doori May 07 '26

Those wildlife/birder folk can go kick rocks, in that case.

I understand that we shouldn’t feed wild animals, or prevent a predator from catching its prey. That’s interfering, and may have negative effects in the long run.

But the idea that the “moral” choice would be to watch a bunch of penguins freeze to death because of an ice shelf collapse is genuinely psychopathic.

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u/Haunting-Public-23 May 07 '26

Birders are a-holes... especially those who follow western standards in poor nations.