Adorable Oregon Zoo sea lion photo goes viral
Three-year-old Emily wanted to give the sea lion at the Oregon Zoo a hug.
Mom Emerald Magbaleta snapped an iPhone photo of the adorable moment, displayed it on her Instagram page and then submitted it to the social media site web.stagram.com.
The photo got a lot of love: It won a first place award in a contest put on by web.stagram.com, the popular Instagram web viewer site. And since the site put it on its own Instagram feed on Jan. 20, the photo has received more than 15,000 likes.
The Portland resident said she’s been overwhelmed at the feedback. “I think it’s amazing,” Magbaleta said.
So how is such a viral photo made?
The picture itself was taken Sept. 25 when Magbaleta took her daughter to the zoo for her birthday. When they toured the sea lion tank, Magbaleta noticed one of the lions was paying extra attention to her daughter.
“I told her, ‘It looks like he’s giving you a birthday hug. Give him a hug back,’” she said.
It was that easy. When Magbaleta learned of web.stagram.com’s contest several months later – which had a theme of taking a photo of pairs – she submitted the shot.
And that is how cute is made.
This is a PAID AD for Instagram's web.stagram.com MASQUERADED as a public interest story....
Probaly not...as you were (angry and confused).
People, there is NOTHING adorable about sea lions, trust me. Â This appears as a cute picture, but I assure you that sea lion would attack that little girl given the chance. Â I have seen them attack people. Â Don't underestimate the nature of a beast.Â
This doesn't "appear to be a cute picture" it is a cute picture, no matter how you feel about Sea Lions.
Is this how we celebrate salmon killers? That tank should be closed down or filled with salmon that I can later eat. Loving sealions is like loving wolves.
@dynamited77 And what is wrong with wolves? They are cute too ;-)
You correct but they aren't his kind of cute unless he's looking the the scope of his hunting gun;-)
Ohh myyy!
Awww.... pretty cute..! Â :-)
Is that precious or what ??
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@Dr. Rawdog dude you have some issues, perhaps you should check yourself in if you are that screwed up in the head before you scar some child for life, sicko
@Dr. Rawdog in case you were wondering about the reply to Dr. Rawdog his comment he has since deleted, he refered to the picture as sexual, he is a disgusting low life pedophile!
@Dr. Rawdog  Reminds you of you and your pet goat, eh?
How touching.
That is really adorable! Puts into perspective how large that sea lion is.
@leapfrogger ~  Yeah... even remembering that the little girl is only 3 years old, I didn't really realize that sea lions were that big..!  Awesome picture...!  :-)