Photo/Illutration (Photo by Toshiyuki Takeya)

Editor's note: This is part of a series of videos offering an up-close perspective on the animal kingdom. A special 360-degree video camera system was set up in zoos and other facilities to show how the animals view their world as they interact.

Also visit our special 360-DEGREE LIVES page (http://t.asahi.com/360lives), where you can watch all the previous videos.

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Cute ducklings were within arm's reach at the Shiina Hatchery Co. facility in Yokoshibahikari, Chiba Prefecture, and definitely cuddable.

The hatchery raises grimaud ducks, a species modified from the birds used to prepare Peking duck.

But ducklings shortly after they are born are soft, warm and cuddly as they cry while visitors try to touch them.

Cardboard was used to create a small enclosure in which 10 to 15 ducklings were placed. A video camera was installed in the middle of the makeshift pen.

While the birds at first huddled together out of uncertainty about what was before them, their curiosity soon got the better of them, and they began jumping on the lens or pecking at the camera glass.

The low angle of the camera gave the impression of the ducklings looking down at it.

The hatchery specializes in raising ducks of all kinds, from those sold for their meat as well as those used in rice paddies to control weeds and insects as part of an organic farming method.

The Shiina Hatchery produces about 150,000 ducklings in an average year and sells them to farms that fatten them up over about two months before processing them and selling the meat to Japanese and Chinese restaurants.