Nature did its magic once again amazing us with its unique inhabitants. Yves Adams is a Belgian wildlife photographer who has presented to the public never-seen-before images of a leucistic penguin. As it seems, it’s not all black and white for this lovely bird. Adams spotted the penguin during his expedition in the South Atlantic in 2019, when he stopped in South Georgia to take pictures of a huge colony of penguins, counting over 120,000 members.
The penguin won the spotlight with its vibrant colors, and luckily it was close to the photographer, otherwise, it would’ve been impossible to spot and capture that moment from all the birds that were on that beach.
Image credits: Yves Adams / Kennedy News
It took Adams a year to publish his images because of the demands of his expedition. During that time he was taking pictures non-stop since it was that time of the year when it never goes dark in the Antarctic. We can totally say, his two monthly trips were worth it.
Although studies say that there have been leucistic birds before, thanks to Adams now we have a proof for that. His images of the yellow penguins are the first ones to prove the existence of birds with this condition. Leucism is the lack of pigmentation on the skin, but compared to albinism, it doesn’t affect the eyes.
Most leucistic animals are more exposed to threats because of their distinguishing skin. This can also be a problem for this unique bird, but it can also help on mating on the other hand, as the penguins tend to use their yellow pigment to attract females. In this case of a fully-yellow penguin, it’s unclear whether its distinctive plumage makes the bird ultra-attractive or ultra-repulsive to the ladies, but one thing for sure is that this is the most special penguin seen so far.
Image credits: Yves Adams / Kennedy News
Image credits: Yves Adams / Kennedy News
Image credits: Yves Adams / Kennedy News
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