Penguins are known as elegant gentlemen with their ‘tuxedo’ looks, but are you sure you’ve ever seen a yellow penguin?
Belgian photographer Yves Adams accidentally captured this bird during an exhibition photography trip in the South Atlantic region.
While removing the equipment he was carrying, he felt something unusual in the penguin colony of more than 120,000.
“I have never seen or heard of a penguin with such a yellow color. On the beach, this bird is extremely unique because it is the only one among more than 120 thousand penguins.” – Adams shared with Kennedy News.
The reason this penguin has a different yellow color compared to its peers is because it has leucism, a leucism syndrome – a rare genetic mutation in biological pigmentation that leads to a lack of pigmentation in animals.
Leukemic animals lack melanin throughout their bodies, causing them to be pale white or patchy. According to a study of leucism in penguins, depending on the specimen, the chance of developing leucism is 1 in 20,000 to 146,000. Therefore, this animal is a member of a herd of 120,000 animals, which is very suitable for research. With this penguin, instead of black feathers, they have yellow feathers, which looks very unique.