leucistic adelie penguin
grrlscientist | January 8, 2008tags: Adélie penguin, Pygoscelis adeliae , ornithology, birds, avian, leucism
A unique leucistic Adélie penguin, Pygoscelis adeliae,
photographed by the Mawson Hut Foundation team in Antarctica.
Image: Brett Jarrett (Mawsons Hut Foundation) [larger]
An individual Adélie penguin, Pygoscelis adeliae, that lacks most of its normal pigment was recently photographed by Australian biologists near Granholm Hut in Antarctica. Penguins and other birds that lack pigmentation are referred to as "leucistic" by ornithologists. According to the Australian biologists, these abnormal white birds…