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The penguins! They’ve… lost their heads!!

There’s no Photoshop trickery involved here – just living, breathing penguins wandering around their enclosure in Hokkaido’s Asahiyama Zoo with nothing but air where their heads ought to be. What on earth is happening on Japan’s northernmost island!?

Okay, okay, so we’re pulling your leg a little here. As any budding zoologists among you will no doubt already know, this is a peculiar trick that King Penguins can pull off quite easily thanks to their unique double-jointed necks. The position allows for easy scratching and pecking, and even doubles as a handy gag to scare away unwanted visitors at Halloween.

It’s perfectly natural, but can you imagine taking a small child to see their first real, live penguin and discovering this lot waiting for you?

▼”Daddy, what happened to its head?”

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▼ “Daddy, I don’t like this.”

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▼ “Who did this to them!?!”

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Shot by a visitor to the zoo (which is well worth the trip, incidentally, and receives some of the largest numbers of visitors of any zoo in the country), the following video shows the penguins chilling in their makeshift home, with several of them letting their necks hang backwards. We know they’re not in pain and this is completely normal for their species, but no matter how many times we watch this video it still manages to creep us out.

Thank goodness this trait isn’t shared by more animals; I’m not sure I could cope if my cat made a habit of swiveling its head around a full 180 degrees and gnawing at its back…

Source: Karapaia (Japanese)

Video via YouTube