Galapagos Penguin Baby Won’t Stop Squeaking Until It Gets Some Food [VIDEO]

penguin-tantrum — Galapagos penguins will feed their fledglings if there is enough food to share. National Geographic

What is that shrieking? Just a penguin throwing a tantrum.

The sounds in the video below may make your ears bleed or inspire warm feelings, but either way they are not that unusual — National Geographic says little Galápagos penguins stick close to their parents after they have developed, both to hone their fishing skills before they become fully independent and to mooch off of them, just like many human young do. The squeaks are the 2-month-old chick asking for food, and the little one will get it as long as there is enough to go around.

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Scientists know of 18 species of penguin, but only the Galápagos penguins and gentoo penguins care for their fledglings, National Geographic says: “A freeloading fledging will wait by the beach for a [parent] to return from hunting, turn up their beaks, and shriek for food — a behavior learned as chicks,” according to that publication. “In some cases, the adult would regurgitate food, such as fish, into the fledgling’s mouth.”

The World Wildlife Fund lists Galápagos penguins as an endangered species, and says they are the “only penguin species found north of the equator and in the Galápagos.” They can grow up to 5.5 pounds and 19 inches long.