Adorable Penguin Melts Hearts in Bluff

Footage of a Fiordland crested penguin in Bluff waddling up to his awaiting human friend Rodney Clark has delighted the internet and amused many New Zealand locals.

The video shows Bluff local Clark standing on the pavement, waiting patiently for his feathered friend to navigate the traffic.

The little guy hops as quickly as he can over the road and then jumps the kerb to meet his mate, who squats down to chat to his tiny black-and-white pal.

“Everybody round here’s got one,” Clark jokes. “I’ve just let him off his leash. He’s always running into houses and stealing goldfish – he’s a real nuisance.”

The penguin then hops off the road to a car that has pulled up in the breakdown lane, and makes friends with two women.

“Wait, wait!” calls one of them, worried for the flightless bird’s safety. “Don’t go out in the road yet!”

Fiordland crested penguins, or tawaki, are a species endemic to New Zealand, and currently breed along the south-western coasts of the South Island and on Stewart Island. It is classified as a “vulnerable to endangered” species.

Original article by Yael Brender, Daily Mail, December 23, 2017.