All Black Penguin

King penguins are usually known for their tuxedo crested appearance, so the recent photograph of a black penguin taken by Andrew Evans of National Geographic has been sparking a lot of interest. Evans has sent back more information on the picture.

Our group from Lindblad Expeditions spotted this very unique bird at Fortuna Bay on the subantarctic island of South Georgia. Out of several thousand pairs of king penguins, this was the only individual that was entirely black although earlier in the morning I had spotted another that showed muted coloration. Recent science papers (PDF) show that the trait has been documented only a handful of times in South Georgia. Some fellow travelers recall seeing a melanistic penguin at St. Andrew’s Bay, also on South Georgia.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Geekazoid.