The plight of a baby seal who was rejected by his mother and faced a race against time to persuade her to give him a crucial life or death feed has taken viewers on an emotional rollercoaster.
However, the mother would not let him drink her milk from her teat, and kept scooting away from him when he tried to reach out.
Viewers took to Twitter, saying they were rooting for the baby during the tense scene.
A newborn baby seal had to keep pleading with his mother to feed him in a heart-breaking segment of Wonderful World of Baby Animals on Channel 5 last night
The male pup (pictured) kept crying for his mother to feed him. He needed to feed right after birth so that his mother’s milk didn’t lose its anti-bodies that would protect him from disease
‘I really hope that baby seal makes it. Come on Mummy, you need to feed your baba,’ one invested viewer pointed out.
‘Oh my goodness, cuteness overload,’ another wrote.
It was explained in the documentary that the adult seal might have been a first-time-mother who didn’t know exactly how to look after her pup, or she might have been too exhausted to let him feed.
Some viewers were scared for the poor seal pup and added they hoped it ‘made it’ when seeing him struggle to get fed
Time was running out for the pup, whose immune system would be exposed to disease if he didn’t get fed soon.
The baby tried to follow his mother along the beach but she was too fast for him.
In spite of his cries for help, the bigger seal didn’t seem to change her mind, and kept moving further from her pup.
Thankfully, after hours of pleading and fighting, the mother stopped running away and gave the pup a sniff.
This way she was able to confirm it was indeed her pup, and finally lay down so that he could find her teat and feed.
On the other side of the beach, a female pup (pictured) was put in harm’s way when she struggled to keep up with her bigger mother
The documentary gave an insight into how dangerous life can be for a newborn seal.
Seal pups like this one need to learn quickly in order to survive if they want to make it adulthood