{"id":413219,"date":"2010-03-10T18:06:44","date_gmt":"2010-03-10T23:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/green.yahoo.com\/blog\/guest_bloggers\/24\/all-black-penguin-discovered.html"},"modified":"2010-03-10T18:06:44","modified_gmt":"2010-03-10T23:06:44","slug":"all-black-penguin-discovered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/413219","title":{"rendered":"All-black penguin discovered"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"all-black <\/em>
Photo via
\nAndrew Evans of the National
\n Geographic<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

King
\n Penguins<\/a> are notorious for their prim, tuxedoed appearance — but a
\nrecently discovered all-black penguin seems unafraid to defy convention.
\n In what has been described as a “one in a zillion kind of mutation,”
\nbiologists say that the animal has lost control of its pigmentation<\/a>,
\n an occurrence that is extremely rare. Other than the penguin’s
\nmonochromatic outfit, the animal appears to be perfectly healthy — and
\nthen some. “Look at the size of those legs,” said one scientist, “It’s
\nan absolute monster.”<\/p>\n

The under-dressed penguin was photographed by Andrew Evans of National
\n Geographic<\/a> on the island of South Georgia near Antarctica<\/a>.
\n As the picture circulated, some biologists were taken aback — including
\nDr. Allan Baker of the University of
\nToronto<\/a>. His first response was disbelief:\n<\/p>\n

Wow. That looks so bizarre I can’t even believe it. Wow.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While multicolored birds will often show some variation, Dr. Baker
\nexplains that what makes this all-black King Penguin so rare is that the
\nbird’s melanin deposits have occurred where they are typically not
\npresent — enough so that no light feathers even checker the bird’s
\nnormally white chest.<\/p>\n

Andrew Evans:\n<\/p>\n

Melanism is merely the dark pigmentation of skin,
\nfur — or in this case, feathers. The unique trait derives from increased
\nmelanin in the body. Genes may play a role, but so might other factors.
\nWhile melanism is common in many different animal species (e.g.,
\nWashington D.C. is famous for its melanistic squirrels), the trait is
\nextremely rare in penguins. All-black penguins are so rare there is
\npractically no research on the subject — biologists guess that perhaps
\none in every quarter million of penguins shows evidence of at least
\npartial melanism, whereas the penguin we saw appears to be almost
\nentirely (if not entirely) melanistic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Whether or not the all-black look catches on in the penguin fashion
\nworld, it’s nice to see someone dressing-down for once.<\/p>\n

Stephen Messenger is a correspondent at TreeHugger<\/a>,
\n where this post originally appeared.<\/em> <\/p>\n

More
\nfrom TreeHugger<\/strong><\/p>\n