Penguin ID guide
Emperor penguins, like many birds, don’t show any individual diagnostic characteristics as adults, unless there is a scar or abnormality. So to identify an individual, or even a male from a female, is difficult.
All mature emperor penguins have a gunmetal grey back, a belly of brilliant white and jet-black head, tail and top side of their flippers. The only splash of colour is a butter coloured yellow band to their throat and cheeks and the lower part of their beak is also a deep orange.
Whilst filming, the Dynasties team witnessed an extremely rare specimen; an all black emperor penguin! Where there should have been white or yellow it was replaced with black. This is called melanism and is a widely known mutation in the animal kingdom.
Complete melanism like this has been seen before in their close relatives, king penguins, but it is extremely rare in an emperor penguin. Another extraordinary attribute of this bird was that several of its toe nails alternated between white and black like the keys on a piano. A rare and wonderful sight!
Scientists would expect this to be a distinct disadvantage when swimming, as from below, this melanistic individual would be more visible to predators, such as killer whales or leopard seals. The normal white belly camouflages the penguin against white sky or ice, making it less conspicuous to eyes lurking in the depths. However, this one looked healthy and was in search of a mate.
The team saw this individual with a partner but unfortunately it disappeared before egg laying began, and then only returned for a short period in spring.
