King penguins, the second-largest penguin species, typically sport a distinct black-and-white coat with a yellowish-gold dash of colour on their collar. However, one young penguin in the South Atlantic appears to have missed the memo on the dress code. It decided to forgo the black feathers and retain just the bright yellow plumage. While some unusual penguin colouring can be attributed to injury, diet, or disease, most are due to mutations in the bird’s genes.
It is believed that the yellow bird has leucism; a genetic condition in which only some of the melanin is lost. Dee Boersma, a conservation biologist and professor at the University of Washington who was not a part of the expedition, agrees with the assessment. In an email to Live Science, the expert said since the bird had a brown head, it had retained some of its pigment and was therefore not a “true albino.”