By Daily Mail Reporter


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Steely: With a glint in his eye, is this Adelie penguin emulating his screen hero Feathers McGraw?

With a steely glint in his eye, this Adelie penguin looks like he's copying his screen hero Feathers McGraw - the pillaging penguin from Wallace and Gromit.

But instead of trying to pilfer a hoard of diamonds, as Feathers did in the 1993 film The Wrong Trousers, this pickpocketing male is caught in the act of stealing stones from a neighbour's nest.

He can be seen keeping a beady eye on the mound of stones his rival builds up next to him on Ross Island, Antarctica.

Life of crime: The pickpocketing penguin is seen stealing a stone (left) and walking back to his pile to drop it

But as his hard-working neighbour waddles off to collect another prized pebble, the canny criminal sneaks over and grabs one of the rocks before scuttling back to his own nest.

This amusing activity takes places several times until the hapless penguin finally works out he is being duped and chases off his rival.

The footage was captured by a film crew for BBC documentary Frozen Plant, who spent four months with the penguin colony.

Adelie penguins build stone nests to raise their eggs off the ground and protect them from run-off when the Antarctic ice melts

Male birds with the best nests are more likely to attract a mate, so the best stones in the spartan surroundings are highly prized

Adelie penguins, as well as chinstrap penguins, build stone nests to raise their eggs off the ground and protect them from run-off when the Antarctic ice melts.

Male birds with the best nests are more likely to attract a mate, so the best stones in the spartan surroundings are highly prized.

This amusing activity takes places several times until the hapless penguin finally works out he is being duped and chases off his rival.

The footage was captured by a film crew for BBC documentary Frozen Plant, who spent four months with the penguin colony.

The competing males, from a colony of more than 500,000 penguins, often fight over or steal each other's stones to ensure they stay a step ahead.

Jeff Wilson, director of the shoot, said it was difficult to capture the moment when one bird made off with the other's bedding.

He told the BBC: 'They're only a foot and a half tall, so you have to get down to penguin level.

'It's appealing at first, but when it happens for the hundredth time as you're trying to get the shots you need, you start to lose patience.'

He described the male Adelies as like 'festival-goers who have had too much caffeine'.

The Frozen Planet series starts on October 26 on BBC One.




source:dailymail