Watch: Male Penguin Eats Its Own Chick, Swallows It Whole

This shocking footage was shot at a zoo in northeast China, in the Heilongjiang province, and shows a male penguin pecking at its newly-hatched chick, picking it up and then eating it in one single bite.

Apparently, the young penguin refused to eat, despite the male penguin's best efforts to feed it.

Either out of annoyance, or because it was quite hungry itself, the male penguin decided that the only way to deal with this situation would be to swallow the chick whole, and so it did.

Needless to say, zoo employees did not stand a chance at rescuing the young penguin, seeing how it all happened incredibly fast.

Moreover, the male penguin's behavior took them by surprise, as such incidents are extremely rare.

For the time being, the zoo's employees are trying to figure out what exactly caused the male penguin to behave in this manner.