A British wildlife photographer has captured the cutest penguin babies since Happy Feet.
Paul Goldstein spent time with a colony of Emperor penguins while guiding in the Antarctic this month.
His pictures include youngsters nestled in the warmth of caring adults.
Paul said: “Penguins have bewitched me for 25 years but the ‘Royal’ ones are what seduces me the most. Kings may be far more numerous, but nothing can touch both the beauty and rarity of the Emperor penguin.
“The 16,000 strong colony of Snow Hill Island, in terms of polar travel, is the crown jewels, but it is very early in the Antarctic season, but this early November window is the only time to see their tiny grey chicks.
“I loathe humanising wildlife, it is rare a documentary gets this right, Happy Feet was a notable exception.
“This however was thousands of times better than that fabled cartoon. And the chicks are undeniably cute.
“To spend a day with this colony is beyond adjectives, many said it was the ‘best day of their lives’, I’m unsurprised. Nothing is left anywhere on this remote sparkling outpost, it is a pristine ecological area, like the whole of Antarctica and this sensitive quest does nothing to alter that.”
Classic animated film Happy Feet (2006) is about Mumble, an Emperor penguin who cannot sing like the others but uses tap dancing to find his place and save his colony.
