A group of Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) personnel were conducting extreme cold weather training in Antarctica recently when they were met by an adorable welcoming committee.
During the rigorous five-day training exercise, the group was visited by a waddle of emperor penguins for whom the inhospitable continent is simply “home.”
They moseyed into camp by the dozens.
“As our aircrew found out, curious penguins wanted to check in on how the course was going too,” the New Zealand Defence Force wrote in a post, sharing the video below:
For the human trainees hunkering down in the subzero temperatures, seeing the penguins visit them so casually was awe-inspiring.
“Oh my God, this is so cool!” one crew member can be heard saying.
For the penguins, the sight of people (and their colorful tents) in their homeland must have been equally as intriguing.
While the trainees are advised not to get too close to the penguins they encounter, the penguins themselves often show little trepidation about moving in for a closer look.
“In the Antarctic, penguins have no land predators,” the Ocean Conservancy writes. “Consequently, penguins have no fear of people and may approach to with[in] a few feet of Antarctic visitors.”
And among the RNZAF trainees, that visit from the feathered welcoming committee must have made the icy landscape feel a little warmer.