[Animals] Look at this unusual "blonde" penguin found in Antarctica

[#Wittels-]

A leucistic Adélie penguin rests on the sea ice with other normal-colored penguins at Cape Crozier, Antarctica.

Antarctica's Cape Crozier is not a place that tourists, or even scientists, tend to go. To protect one of the largest Adélie penguin colonies on Earth, the area requires a special visiting permit.

By some estimates, up to 600,000 of these 10-pound flightless birds congregate on this desolate coastline, with Mount Terror looming high in the sky.

And yet, earlier this winter, on a National Geographic tourist expedition, photographer Jeff Mauritzen captured images of a penguin unlike any other: a pale animal whose black feathers seemed to have been robbed of their color.

(You could see this cute photo gallery of Antarctic Penguins)

A non-albino leucistic penguin
"Yes, it is an Elizabethan or leucistic penguin," P. Dee Boersma, a penguin expert at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, confirms by email.

"The penguin looks faded or bleached. It's a genetic mutation," explains Boersma, a National Geographic explorer.

 

Unlike albinism, which occurs when the body of a person or animal does not produce melanin, or pigment, leucism occurs when those pigments are prevented from distributing to all parts of the body. Elizabethan or leucistic is sometimes used interchangeably to describe the pale brown or blond coloration of penguins with this condition.

Surprisingly, this is not the first time Mauritzen has encountered a leucistic penguin.

"I've seen millions of penguins," says Mauritzen, who leads National Geographic photo tours. "But now I've seen two of these."

In 2019, Mauritzen photographed a leucistic king penguin on South Georgia Island, which is more than 1,200 miles from the tip of South America.

The strangest colored species
Leucistic penguins are rare, but not unknown. In fact, penguins with this condition have been identified in several species, including chinstraps, katydids, and macaroni penguins.

What's more, a 2000 study revealed that some penguin species are more likely to show leucism than others.

"Adélie penguins were among the most common," says Boersma, who has also witnessed leucism in this species.

Overall, gentoo penguins were the most likely to be leucistic, with an occurrence rate of 1 in 20,000. They are followed by Adélie penguins, with 1 in 114,000 animals with leucistic traits, and chinstraps, with 1 in 146,000 individuals.

According to scientists, penguins with leucism lead a normal life and are not rejected by their peers or targeted by predators to a greater extent.

"Nature never ceases to amaze us. For someone like me, who has been to many, many places and had many incredible wildlife encounters, seeing something like this is still so exciting and amazing," reflects Mauritzen.

 

Link: https://www.nationalgeographicla.com/animales/2023/03/mira-a-este-insolito-pinguino-rubio-encontrado-en-la-antartida