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Obligatory Baby Animal of the Day

This Bald Baby Penguin Was Shunned by His Family Because He Is Bald

by Jamie Frevele | 4:16 pm, September 23rd

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You may recall that this time last week, we brought you the story of the baby seal who was shunned by his family because his fur was ginger. He was rescued. Well, before you reach for your second box of tissues, we have good news about this five-day-old bald baby penguin: he was also rescued. But the bad news is that he was also shunned by his family. But remember the good news we just mentioned in the previous sentence, and add to that this: new feathers. He has been re-introduced to his family and he now has feathers. However, the people at Pixar are looking at this and getting ideas for a new movie called Bald Penguin and Ginger Seal: An Iceberg Made From Tears. 

So, here is what happened to this little guy: Born in mid-August without any feathers in China’s LHT Pole Aquarium, this baby penguin was almost immediately rejected by both of his parents, who kicked him out of their family group, leaving him in icy conditions to fend for himself. When the aquarium’s zookeepers noticed the neglect, they decided to save the then-five-day-old penguin from certain starvation and give him hands-on treatment. They discovered that the penguin was born with a condition that prevented him from absorbing nutrients, which they believe caused the lack of feathers and only worsened without his parents’ care or protection. Let him show you what happened:

Feathers all gone! But fortunately, since he has received proper nutrition and care, he can now proudly show off his new coat of fluffy feathers.

Upon regaining his heath, the penguin was reintroduced to his parents, who now accept him. Want to see another picture of the healthy, formerly bald penguin? Yeah, we thought so:

We cannot guarantee an uplifting, family-friendly-computer-animated-movie-worthy story about an abandoned-then-rescued “baby animal who is different than the rest” story every week, but goshdarnit, we will try. Anything to save us from posting about Human Centipede 2.

(Pics, story via The Sun, AOL, The Telegraph, Daily Mail)

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  • Alison Barnett

    This is the cutest thing I have seen all week! I really needed that:)

  • Liz Probably-A-Mutant Burnett

    I kind of like him better bald o_O 

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7G4SWUX2MCWWXLMYNN347JMIZY Frodo Baggins

    Why you gotta bring up HC2, huh? I was having a perfectly happy manly tear-up, and then you gotta smear your coprophage callout all over it.

  • Anonymous

    So his parents only took him back once his feathers came in?  That may seem uplifting right now, but as soon as he’s a teenager, it’s going to be nothing but, “YOU DON’T LOVE ME!  YOU ONLY LOVE MY FEATHERS!”

    Mark my words.  In twenty years he’ll be on the news, holed up in a house surrounded by SWAT police, his parents taken hostage within, waving a gun around in his adorable little flippers.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jenifer.jewellVB Jenifer Jewell

    I hope he fares better than “happy feet” who is missing and presumed eaten after being saved, rehab and then released recently..
     
    ‘Happy Feet’ the Penguin Is Lost Again, Presumed Eaten | Radar …
    Sep 13, 2011 … After being released into the ocean earlier this month, the confused emperor penguin is missing, reported the Guardian.co.uk, and experts …

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  • Is foiekaj

    Yep. Prejudice is inherent in our DNA, and not just a social construct. We’re afraid of and isolate ourselves from that which we do not understand for the sake of survival. The human race has been doing it for hundreds of thousands of years. Fearing a relative who’s physical appearance strays from the norm because one doesn’t understand the consequences of that variance is no different to fearing a giant black hole in the ground that one has never encountered before.

    It might lead one to believe that the key to removing barriers and the segregation of different groups of humans is not a shift in social pressure, but rather an increase in information, knowledge and education that may help people better relate to those that they will be unable to understand through inherent psychology alone.
    Infact – when the above is taken into consideration – artificial manipulation of a social foundation that has evolved dynamically over thousands of years of human civilisation is more likely to do significant harm to future generations than it is to provide a solution to what is – more often that not – a poorly understood problem.
    A poorly understood problem leads to a poorly defined solution. If there is a significant void within our understanding of others, any effort to objectively analyse a society’s social landscape and determine the correct course of action when attempting to rewire the minds of those we do not understand is destined to end in catastrophe.

    When a man claims that rape isn’t a big deal, the question needs to be raised : How much does this man understand of a woman’s experience during such an event?
    Similarly, when a woman claims that the “objectification” of women is a problem that can be managed through the development of a greater respect for the female sex, the question needs to be raised : How much does this woman understand of a male’s perspective in respect to sex and physical attraction?
    Can either person honestly claim to be in a position of authority to dictate policy or thought-process for the other party with absolute confidence?

    This isn’t a direct attack against feminism. It’s an attack on a flawed philosophy that perverts society in too many forms to count. Feminism – as noble as some may believe it to be – is ultimately a symptom of a greater disease.