I've forgotten my penguin suit! Ultra-rare bird with all-white plumage caused by genetic condition is spotted in Antarctica

The female Gentoo penguin was sighted at the Gabriel Gonzalez Videla Base

An ultra-rare penguin with an all-white plumage caused by a genetic condition has been spotted in the Chilean Antarctica.

The female penguin of the Gentoo species, which typically have mostly black and only few white feathers, was sighted at the Gabriel Gonzalez Videla Base earlier this month.

The rare white animal was filmed by Hugo Alejandro Harros Guerra, a photographer, who said he is one of 14 people living in the middle of a colony of Gentoo penguins.

‘Every day, there is something different to see. Every day, Antarctica and this beautiful place surprise us with something different,’ he said and added that the sighting was ‘extraordinary’.

The penguins’ unusual white colour is likely brought about by a form of leucistic pigmentation, meaning its feathers are missing the black colour penguins are normally associated with. 

The white female penguin (pictured) of the Gentoo species, which typically have mostly black and only few white feathers, was spotted at the Gabriel Gonzalez Videla Base earlier this month

The penguins’ unusual white colour is likely brought about by a form of leucistic pigmentation, meaning its feathers are missing the black colour penguins are normally associated with

Unfortunately, the penguins’ white colour can make it easier for predators to hunt her, as the typical black and white colouring of the feathers is crucial for penguins while diving for fish

Leucistic pigmentation – which involves a loss of feather colour – is sometimes brought about by trauma, but is more commonly genetic.

The condition differs to albinism because when the bird is suffering from leucism its eyes and beak are normal in colour.

Dr Lucas Kruger, a researcher in the scientific department of the Chilean Antarctic Institute, told local newspaper Ladera Sur: ‘Leucism is a genetic variation that can occur in some individuals, which affects the production of coloration in the skin, feather or hair.

‘Here the cells are unable to produce some pigments.

‘This occurs naturally and in many cases affects less than one per cent of a population.’

Unfortunately, the penguins’ white colour can make it easier for predators to hunt her, as the typical black and white colouring of the feathers is crucial for penguins while diving for fish.

‘That is why cases of leucism are also very rare, because, in addition to being rare genes that are rarely seen, they are also animals that are very exposed, in the case of penguins, to being eaten more easily by a predator,’ veterinarian Diego Penaloze told the Animal Reader.

In the recently filmed footage, the white penguin can be seen walking among hundreds of penguins as she is clearly sticking out to her white coat.

In one clip, the female penguin was looking directly at Mr Harros Guerra as he filmed her in Antarctica on January 4.

This is not the first time a Gentoo penguin with leucism has been sighted in this colony, as Juliana Vianna, biologist and specialist in vertebrate genetics, pointed out. It could be the same one or a relative of the one pictured above

The white penguin sticks out among the other normal-coloured ones. She could be the same penguin that has been sighted in the colony for eight years

The Gabriel Gonzalez Videla Base lies in Antarctic mainland’s Waterboat Point in Paradise Bay and is the home of a colony of Gentoo penguins (some pictured)

Leucism differs to albinism because when the bird is suffering from leucism its eyes and beak are normal in colour (like the penguins beak pictured above)

This is not the first time a Gentoo penguin with leucism has been sighted in this colony, as Juliana Vianna, biologist and specialist in vertebrate genetics, pointed out.

A rare white penguin has been seen within the colony for about eight years – this could be one and the same as the recent sighting or relative.

Ms Vianna told Ladera Sur: ‘This is super interesting since genetic studies have identified that there is practically no genetic differentiation in the vast majority of penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula.

‘The only species in which we have seen great genetic differentiation has been the gentoo, which shows the permanence of its individuals in the same colony.’

A visitor claimed to have seen a white penguin he dubbed Isabel during a trip to the base in 2020.

The white female penguin (pictured above) was looking directly at Mr Harros Guerra as he filmed her in Antarctica on January 4

The rare white animal was filmed by Hugo Alejandro Harros Guerra (pictured), a photographer, who said he is one of 14 people living in the middle of a colony of Gentoo penguins

In the recently filmed footage, the white penguin is among hundreds of penguins at the base

The black marks on the white penguin seems to be wet dirt. Footage shows speckles of dirt flying up as the penguin walks around the base

The Gabriel Gonzalez Videla Base lies in Antarctic mainland’s Waterboat Point in Paradise Bay and was named after the Chilean President Gabriel Gonzalez Videla, who became the first head of state of any nation to visit Antarctica in the 1940s.

The base is now considered inactive, but is used as a museum for tourists visiting during the summer months.

Gentoo penguins are often seen around the base and it is considered their home.

The species is listed as near threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, mainly due to the significant decline of the population on the sub-Antarctic islands on which they live.