Photographer Spots Rare All-Black ‘Gothic’ Penguin in the Wild

On a trip to South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic Ocean, nature and wildlife photographer Yves Adams spotted a rare all-black king penguin. Typically, king penguins have a distinctive black-and-white coloring, but this “gothic” penguin apparently has melanism, an excess of dark pigment called melanin, and all of its feathers are dark.

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Adams says he was fortunate to be able to photograph the unique penguin after it came up on land before it rejoined its colony.

“I really love how the yellow neck of patches here are shiny metallic green and the white belly is like dipped in black ink,” Adams wrote about the differences between the “gothic” penguin and its fellow king penguins.

Unfortunately, being all black isn’t ideal for a penguin. The typical coloration (a white underside and a black back) serves as a type of camouflage called countershading, which helps the penguins blend in while swimming.

See the rare black penguin here:

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