An ultra rare all black penguin has been spotted on a beach on South Georgia Island.
Photographer Yves Adams had just landed at St Andrews Bay in the south Atlantic Ocean this month when a colleague alerted him to the presence of an unusual bird.
Yves – who previously found a yellow penguin – quickly rushed to the beach to capture images of the melanistic king penguin before it was swamped by the rest of the colony.
The striking bird has a black belly instead of the usual striking white and the feathers on its neck also appear to be black instead of yellow.
Yves, from Ghent, Belgium, said: ‘I was very happy to be able to capture all of this.
‘It was my expedition leader who spotted the bird originally and she told me when I’d got back from leading a tour. I was really excited.
‘It’s one out of a colony of hundreds of thousands of penguins that has this colour morph.
‘I tried to follow the bird as it had just come up from the surf on to the beach.
An ultra rare all black penguin has been spotted on a beach in South Georgia Island
Photographer Yves Adams had just landed at St Andrews Bay in the south Atlantic Ocean this month when a colleague alerted him to the presence of an unusual bird
Yves quickly rushed to the beach to capture images of the melanistic king penguin before it was swamped by the rest of the colony
‘I knew I had little time to actually photograph that bird as it was heading towards the colony and you don’t want to disturb them when they’re all together.
‘I was really lucky to get some photos of this penguin isolated before it got swamped by the other normal-coloured penguins.
‘Melanism is something that occurs very rarely within birds and mammals.
‘I’ve heard about it before in other species of penguins so I’ve wanted to see it for a really long time.’
Yves was leading an expedition for Starling Reizen when he got the opportunity to photograph the all black penguin.
The penguin’s appearance is due to a genetic mutation known as melanism, which causes an overabundance of melanin, making feathers appear all black.
Examples of black penguins are so rare that there’s little to no research done on the subject.
Black penguins are more visible to predators, both on ice and in the water, as their normal white bellies help them blend in while swimming.
The striking bird has a black belly instead of the usual striking white and the feathers on its neck also appear to be black instead of yellow
Yves was leading an expedition for Starling Reizen when he got the opportunity to photograph the all black penguin
The penguin’s appearance is due to a genetic mutation known as melanism, which causes an overabundance of melanin, making feathers appear all black
Yves said: ‘I don’t believe anyone has seen this all black penguin before.
‘The season has only just started on South Georgia, we were only the third boat to land there.
‘I hope other people get to see it too.
‘I was super excited to see a pure melanistic penguin as there are spotted or partly melanistic birds.
‘From a distance the black is super black but when you get closer some of the markings on its neck and belly are like a metallic green.
‘It was completely accepted by the other birds and his size wasn’t different in any way.’
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