A wildlife photographer has captured the beautiful moment penguins held hands during a romantic seaside waddle.
Alex Macipe watched the king penguins as they returned from a rough day at sea, in the waters off Volunteer Point, the Falkland Islands, where they had been fishing to feed their young chick.
The birds went out hunting together, which is unusual as one normally stays behind to take care of the offspring.
The conservationist and writer explained that he has never seen a pair holding flippers like this couple.
During their 'date' they appeared to be on a pleasant wander before taking a moment to pause, staring back into the crashing waves.
In other shots, they can be seen standing in the brisk winds trying to dry-off amid a flurry of sand particles.
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"Before every trip I try to see the places I'm visiting, so that I can have in my mind what kind of pictures I will take," Macipe, who was visiting from Argentina, said.
"But this situation was amazing, especially when seeing the penguins coming out and going into the sea."
King penguins are one of five penguin species to inhabit the Falklands Islands, including Gentoo, Macaroni, Magellanic and Rockhopper.
Volunteer Point hosts the Island's largest population of king penguins, named scientifically as aptenodyptes paatagonicus, with more than 1500 breeding pairs.
According to Falklands Conservation, between 500-700 king chicks are born in the islands each year and there are more than 1.7 million breeding pairs worldwide.
Macipe said the parents are also experts at identifying their offspring amongst the many chick penguins.
"When a parent arrives and starts calling for their chick, they recognise them among half a million chicks. Then the chick puts its beak inside the parent's beak so they can pass the food."
Alex visited the Islands in November last year as part of a trip around the archipelago sampling much of wildlife on offer.
He plans to return to the Falkland Islands, known in Argentina as Islas Malvinas, to take even more photographs.
He hopes his images will educate people about the archipelago and the thriving wildlife within the islands, including seals, sealions, whales, albatross and other rare bird species.
Caters/Newshub.
