Everyone knows Emperor penguins.
There was that hit documentary film narrated by Morgan Freeman, Non-stop Penguin Carnage.
Although most people know it by its other title:
(Death) March of the Penguins
Sorry, still feeling a bit triggered.
If you've ever watched a nature documentary that has gone into an antarctic climate, you've likely caught a few shots of emperor penguins waddling around or perhaps tobogganing down a snow drift.
If you haven't check them out!
They're kinda cute.
Emperor Likes Meyoutu.be
They're especially cute as chicks.
Now, IFLSciencejust released a picture of a different kind of Emperor Penguin with a solid black coat.
It is gorgeous, and sadly, it may be the only one in the entire world.
The totally black coat is likely a mutation called "melanism," which denotes a high concentration of melanin in the animal.
It's sort of like the opposite of albinism, although not exactly.
It's complicated.
According to IFLScience, melanism and partial melanism has never been documented in Emperor penguins before, so it is likely that this penguin is the only penguin of his kind.
Ornithologist Allan Baker, a professor of environmental and evolutionary studies at the University of Toronto and head of the Royal Ontario Museum's Department of Natural History said:
"It's a one in a zillion kind of mutation somewhere. The animal has lost control of its pigmentation patterns. Presumably, it's some kind of mutation."
He's still cute when he waddles though.
The Rarest Penguin On Earth | Dynasties Saturdays at 9pm | BBC Americayoutu.be
Say hello to the melanistic penguin http://t.co/5CSuP9evne #EarthCapture by @ewaneddy http://t.co/elOKKCoDLK— BBC Earth (@BBC Earth) 1426730412
The mutation does occur in King penguins (the slightly smaller similarly marked cousins), so there are other cute melanistic penguins to take in.
Melanistic (Black) King Penguin http://t.co/lBpL212ver— Amazing Wildlife (@Amazing Wildlife) 1420147807
New favourite animal MT @BBCEarth: melanistic king penguin by @ewaneddy http://t.co/cBvc22BvxG— Kara Šegedin (@Kara Šegedin) 1426520862
Yeah you might be "goth" but are you "melanistic penguin goth"? https://t.co/HbXpTkZ54a— Dashiell M. Silva (@Dashiell M. Silva) 1539685511
But as for Emperor penguins, which survive primarily in the Antarctic against a constant blanket of snow, the melanism provides a distinct disadvantage.
The black coat stands out against the white of the snow.
It is unusual for the melanistic penguin to survive until adulthood because it is an easier target for predators.
'First footage' of the ALL BLACK emperor #penguin! David Attenborough's BBC crews release newly-edited film of incr… https://t.co/tEaHK51q9j— Hans Solo (@Hans Solo) 1550669569
Cool news — Even the rarest penguins are showing up to voice their support for the #GreenNewDeal. https://t.co/PWS5rKSU2Z— Green New Deal Penguin 🌅 (@Green New Deal Penguin 🌅) 1550793818
Footage shows incredibly rare all black emperor penguin: An all black emperor penguin has been spotted in the Antar… https://t.co/eOzuePhkUe— RushReads (@RushReads) 1550583039
This, combined with the rarity of the mutation, might explain why an adult melanistic Emperor penguin is so rare.
The risk still exists for the adult penguin, so as one user so astutely put it:
Yes.
Godspeed.