Your morning adorable: Gentoo penguin chick flaps his wings as if trying to fly

September 27, 2010 |

We could hardly believe our eyes when we saw YouTube user ashokbo's video of a young gentoo penguin that looks suspiciously as if he's giving himself flying lessons.

Ashokbo suspects the little guy "has not learned that he is a penguin and [cannot] fly!" (We wonder if he isn't merely practicing his swimming skills, but we like ashokbo's idea better.)

This enthusiastically flapping fellow is a resident of Petermann Island, an Antarctic island that's home to a large population of gentoo and Adelie penguins.

A gentoo penguin is easily distinguishable from other types of penguin by the markings on its head (white patches behind each eye that meet at the crown of its head), its orange beak and its bushy tail feathers. Gentoos are the third-largest type of penguin, behind the emperor penguin and the king penguin.

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