People online have admired the penguin (Image: Getty)
A penguin has won the hearts of social media users after they saw a clip of how polite it was when it came across two people.
The aquatic bird showed its manners when it came face-to-face with the pair. It patiently stood behind the man and woman, who didn’t realise the penguin was there, and waited for them both to go back to clear a path for it to waddle forwards in between them and be on its way.
Judging by the snow filled landscape and the polar expedition jackets worn by the man and woman it looks like the video, posted on , was taken in . The woman was particularly shocked when she noticed the penguin behind her and she looked to be in awe as it waddled past with its arms in the air.
Incredibly, the post has already garnered 10.9 million views even though it was only shared two days ago (January 15). It has also received 335,000 likes, 25,000 retweets and 1,000 comments.
The caption of the post reads: “A very polite penguin meets a human and waits for him to move away so he can continue walking.” One user joked: “Haha well they walk around in a tuxedo all day of course they are civilised and polite” in reference to the black and white colours of penguins.
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A very polite penguin meets a human and waits for him to move away so he can continue walking.
— The Figen (@TheFigen_)
A surprised X user said: “I would never believe it if I did not see this.” A third added: “How cute! Penguins are total charmers. It’s like they’re waddling around saying, ‘Pardon me, dear human, I’ve got important penguin business!’
Another person commented: “Such a courteous penguin! Waiting patiently for the human to move – proving that manners truly know no species.” Further commenters described the penguin as “cute”, a “gentleman” and “absolutely adorable”.
Another joked: “Homie has better manners than 98% of the human population.”
One user noticed a red flag on the path the penguin walked down, where it was met by another penguin coming from the opposite direction. They claimed: “In fact, this was one of the first things we were told in Antarctica, when leaving our expedition ship: Don’t walk on the penguin highways. The little red flag is there to draw your attention to this.”
Matty Jordan, an Antarctica expert who helps people get a job in the icy continent, about the different coloured flags in Antarctica. In the caption he said: “Both the green and the red flags are used to mark SAFE routes, usually on roads or pre-established walking trails.”
He added: “These are very important things for us to know so we don’t get confused and walk somewhere that we shouldn’t”. According to this, it was the penguin that ended up on a trail designated for humans.