Plucky King Penguin Befriends Horses

Heart-warming: horse welcomes penguin to the neigh-bourhood (Caters)

The unlikely friendship was struck up at a nature reserve in the Falkland Islands (Caters)

A herd of horses have welcomed a lost penguin into their neigh-bourhood - in a real life story that would be perfectly placed in a Disney film.

Heart-warming pictures show the horses sniffing and playing around the penguin, to make it feel welcome.

They were captured on camera in the Falkland Islands, at Cape Pembrokeshire Nature Reserve, just outside the capital city of Stanley.

Conservation officer Sarah Crofts noticed the unlikely friendship, as the plucky penguin approached when she was feeding three horses.

Before long, they were “nose to beak”, said conservationist Sarah Crofts (Caters)

She said: “At first I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I think the horses were as shocked as I was.

“I didn’t think the horses would take much notice of the penguin but couldn’t believe how fascinated they were with it. Soon, they were nose to beak.

“I’m really enthusiastic about horses and penguins, so it was an incredible moment to witness.

“After a while it was as if the horses didn’t want to let the penguin out of their sight.”

King penguins can grow up to 96cm tall and are the most frequent of their species to visit the Falklands – with more than 1,500 breeding pairs visiting Volunteer Point, situated north-east of the islands

Photography enthusiast Sarah, who has worked for the conservation group for eight years, said the penguin stuck around for more than an hour, before heading off further inland.

Sarah added: “After a while, he headed back to the sea with a bit of a stomp on. I think he was keen to shake off his four legged friends.”

Stunning: the snowy scenes were like something out of a Disney film (Caters)