Every day is a fight for survival. This, pretty much, is the mindset of all the animals in the wild. They belong in a food web where everyone is prey to another. Each wild animal lives its life with no other goal than to eat and to continue existing the next day.

However, a penguin is even more enmeshed in the game of “eat or be eaten!”

Not even the fiercest and the strongest animal is safe from the dangers of the wild. And when the difficult time comes where life is at stake, they have no other choice but to fight and unleash the “real animal” in them.

Emperor penguins living in the Antarctic are pretty much aware and used to the life-threatening dangers that the wild brings them every day. Things are far from the cute portrayal of their kind in the animated movie “Happy Feet”.

In the real world, penguins use their feet not to dance but to scour the ice deserts looking for food and running away from predators.

Other creatures lurking out there see them as a tasty meal. It’s only a matter of time before someone snatches them away and turns them into a tasty chunk of meat in their mouths.

Now here’s a heart-stopping video!

In a YouTube video posted by BBC, that’s entitled “Spy in the Snow,” a group of Emperor penguins were walking in the ice field. They stuck together as a group, leaving no one behind – for they know there’s strength in numbers.

Then, there was a sudden turn of events when a giant petrel landed nearby and tried to stop them from their little journey.

Described as aggressive and opportunistic, giant petrels are great scavengers in the Antarctic.

They are known to scavenge penguins, albatross, seal and whale carrion, and even ship offal.

They prey on penguins and albatross chicks, as well as on other seabirds the size of an adult albatross.

The penguins ran away from the giant bird – though running wasn’t really an ideal option for them to get away from such an agile predator.

The commentator of the video even said,

“Running isn’t an Emperor’s strong point.”

Emperor penguins have long bodies and short legs – these legs are powerful under the sea but not so much on land.

The situation became even more fearful when one of the little penguins fell down.

He didn’t manage to get back up on his feet easily because of the slippery ice floor.

The giant petrel saw it as his chance and immediately took advantage of it.

The aggressive bird grabbed the chick penguin’s neck feathers.

Just when the giant bird thought that the meal was about to be served, the baby Emperor was able to get back up on its feet – and it was payback time!

The penguins stood their ground and formed a defensive circle with the biggest and bravest chick in front.

In a heroic moment, the chick penguin brought his chest out and spread out its wings to protect the others behind.

The chicks tried to squawk out loud to intimidate the petrel.

In the video, the vicious predator made a couple of attempts to snatch any of the chicks but the little penguins didn’t let it go his way.

Their sharp beaks were all ready to fight back this time.

The giant petrel was still the bigger threat, though it was outnumbered by the Emperors.

In the meantime, it was just a waiting game for both parties.

The chicks maintained their circle of defense knowing they were cornered. They hoped that the petrel would just go and fly away and call it a day.

It was like a scene from a superhero movie!

All of a sudden and out of nowhere, an unexpected hero came to the rescue – an Adélie penguin!

The commentator described it as “the feistiest penguin in the world.”

The Adélie penguin turned into a hero when he fearlessly stood between the Emperor chicks and the giant petrel.

The petrel then decided to fly away.

Maybe at that point, he finally and actually felt outnumbered!

“Even petrels don’t mess with adélies,” the commentator remarked.

At the end of the video, the Adélie penguin accompanied the chick penguins to the sea.

The sea might not be the safest place for them, but at least they are more slippery and harder to catch.

Thanks to their capeless hero, they get to live another day!

Watch the amazing video below!

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Source: Shareably, BBC