Humans have a habit of creating entire narratives from single images. This is a beautiful part of us, but it can also get us into trouble when a narrative is particularly powerful and overtakes the beauty of the original.
We are especially good at doing this with animals and a recent viral story is a great example of that habit.
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You may have already seen this photo making the rounds online.
And that makes perfect sense, because the image itself is incredible!
In it, a pair of penguins are standing on the rocks of Australia’s St. Kilda pier, facing the Melbourne skyline. One of the penguin’s wings is resting on the back of the other.
It’s a beautiful image.
But what really skyrocketed it to viral fame was the story shared alongside it, which was then posted to Twitter.
Photographer Tobias Baumgaertner posted the photo with the story he was told by a volunteer looking after the St. Kilda penguins.
The volunteer told him that the white penguin was an “elderly lady” who had recently lost her mate, and that the darker male penguin was also recently widowed.
That story, mixed with the poetic license of the artist, took an already notable image to a whole new level.
I mean, people love penguins, so the idea that such a beautiful story could go viral is clear.
Many online news outlets began to share the story of the widowed penguins, allowing it to reach even more eyeballs in need of a heartwarming story or two.
Sadly, the story the volunteer told was incorrect.
People with more knowledge of penguins immediately began to note that the penguin on the left looked like a juvenile, making the idea that it could have already partnered and been widowed unlikely.
Eventually, the non-profit organization that protects St. Kilda’s penguins chimed in.
In their post , they confirmed that the “widowed penguins” part of the story was incorrect:
“The penguin on the right is a pre-moult adult and the penguin on the left appears to be a juvenile, likely the offspring of the pre-moulter. There is currently no evidence to suggest that penguins “like” to watch city lights together, this is just the way the rocks face.”
The photographer saw their response and commented to say that he appreciated the clarification.
As for the idea that he said they liked to watch the city lights, he explained that he wasn’t trying to say they were literally doing that, but had simply watched the pair stay in that spot for a few hours and thought it was a touching idea to share in the current global environment.
If you’d like to see more of Tobias Baumgaertner’s wildlife photography, you can follow him on Instagram @tobiasvisuals . To learn more about St. Kilda’s penguin colony, check out the organization’s website .
