Animals Wildlife Inquisitive Emperor Penguins Star in Delightful Selfie (Video) By Melissa Breyer Editorial Director Hunter College F.I.T., State University of New York Cornell University Melissa Breyer is Treehugger’s editorial director. She is a sustainability expert and author whose work has been published by the New York Times and National Geographic, among others. our editorial process Melissa Breyer Updated October 11, 2018 Screen capture. Eddie Gault/Australian Antarctic Division Share Twitter Pinterest Email Animals Wildlife Pets Animal Rights Endangered Species Australian Antarctic Division captures a vision of curious penguins ready for their close-up. This is the best 38 seconds I will surely have all day (except that I’ve watched it so many times that I’m up to double-digit minutes at this point). Australian Antarctic Division expeditioner Eddie Gault was doing Antarctic expedition things when he left his camera on the ice during a visit to the Auster Rookery near Australia’s Mawson research station. One big cutie-pie of an Emperor penguin spies the machine, waddles over, gives us an intimate view of penguin tummy and feet, then “thwack!” expertly kicks the camera into proper selfie position. A penguin friend ambles over, they chirp-coo impossibly cute penguin sounds, check things out, shake and jiggle a bit, and the rest is penguin selfie history. While it may not be a true selfie, given that they didn't actually trigger the recording, it's "selfie" enough for us ... and apparently for the thousands of people who have been charmed by the ice-crunching dynamic duo already. See for yourself below.