Story By: Lee Bullen,Sub Editor: Joseph Golder,Agency: CEN

Video Credit: AsiaWire/@xxxxxxx_hibiya

This is the viral moment an adorable baby penguin chick gazes in awe and flaps its wings in surprise at falling cherry blossom resembling snowfall.

The incident was filmed at Tobu Zoo in the town of Miyashiro in the eastern Japanese prefecture of Saitama and shared on Twitter where it has been seen 1.9 million times.

In the footage, a fluffy penguin chick is seen gazing at the cherry blossom falling from the nearby sakura trees, resembling snowfall.

Pictures Credit: AsiaWire & AsiaWire/@tobuzoo7

According to local media, the baby Humboldt penguin (Spheniscus humboldti) hatched at the end of last year and it is the chick’s first cherry blossom season.

Netizens wrote “this moved me to tears”, “this penguin is so pure” and “what a precious moment” in the comments section of the viral video.

The Japanese zoo used to be home to a famous Humboldt penguin called Grape-kun that made the headlines when it fell in love with a cardboard cut-out of a cartoon character.

The unlikely romance began after Grape-kun was rejected by its mate of 10 years Midori, and zookeepers put the cut-out of Hululu from the hit anime series ‘Kemono Friends’ in his enclosure for company.

The 20-year-old penguin sadly passed away at the end of 2017, and the chick in the video has become a symbol of new life at the zoo, according to reports.