It is likely that when you think of penguins, you imagine the seabird covered in black feathers - but recently a completely white female penguin was recorded in Antarctica, and the reason for this is particularly surprising.
The photographer Hugo Alejandro Herros Gera photographed a female white-eared penguin, whose members are usually covered in black feathers, but due to a genetic pigmentation problem, the cells in her body do not know how to produce the black color.
"Every day there is something to see in this special and beautiful place, which never ceases to surprise. It is an extraordinary observation," said Gera.
Completely white: watch the rare penguin
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Unlike albinism, so both the eyes and the legs of the animal are affected by the phenomenon, a pigmentation problem leaves the color of the eyes and legs natural, without any effect.
In the case of a penguin, this problem can have fatal consequences for the animal, since unlike its black friends, it will be very conspicuous when diving in the water for potential predators, so its chances of survival will be very low compared to them.
"This rare phenomenon, which may be caused by trauma but in most cases is genetic, exists in less than 1% of the population," added in an interview Dr. Lucas Kruger, a researcher at the Antarctic Institute of Chile, in whose area the penguin was recorded. "This phenomenon of In humans (usually in the form of spots on the skin, ag) and it also affects the hair, or in this case - the feathers."
Her chances of survival are lower than usual. Watch the white penguin:
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In the photos taken earlier this month, the female is seen walking around among her bandmates, at one point she also looks curiously directly at the photographer.
Before the current sighting, a similar penguin was photographed in 2020 near the Chilean base on the cold continent, which raises the hypothesis that it is the same female, belonging to a species that is in danger of extinction.
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