Wednesday

Rare Black Penguin

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk


An "astonishing" black penguin suffering from a rare condition has been
photographed by wildlife enthusiasts.

Rare black penguin: Pictured: 'astonishing' rare black penguin living on South Georgia

The penguin, believed to be suffering from a condition known as melanism, was
spotted on Fortuna Bay, a sub-Antarctic island of South
Georgia,
about 860 miles off the
Falklands
.
“Observing this black penguin waddle across South Georgia's black sand beach
revealed no different behaviour than that of his fellow penguins. In fact,
he seemed to mix well,” he wrote on a National
Geographic blog
.


“Regarding feeding and mating behaviour there is no real way to tell, but I do
know that we were all fascinated by his presence and wished him the best for
the coming winter season.”


Biology experts say that because black penguins are particularly rare there is
very little research discussing the subject.

It is estimated that about one in every 250,000 penguins shows evidence of the
condition.
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