Penguin counter Laura Bogaard was out doing her work with Oceanites, Inc. Her job is to find and count the penguins, among other things, to learn more about them and track their overall health.

While out on the job, she noticed something strange. Bogaard explained to IFLScience:

“I was carefully making my way up the hill and did a big double take when I noticed this chick was not like the others! I sat with them for a while snapping pictures and admiring its cute pink toenails and charismatic little grin.”

She went on to say that this type of discoloration where they are darker in color is quite rare in animals in general, including penguins, though it is far from unheard of:

“I’ve seen a couple leucistic gentoo penguins before, but this was my first time seeing one with melanism. It is definitely rare, but amongst our whole team we were lucky enough to see two melanistic chicks this year – this one, and another one at Neko Harbour. It will be interesting to see how they fare over the winter and if we see them again next year.”

This is a significant worry because penguins evolved their distinctive black and white colorings to help them avoid predators. Their black back makes it harder for predators from above to see them as they blend in well with the surrounding water.

The white coloring on their front works the same way for predators coming from below since the white will blend in with the clouds in the sky above.

Having a nearly all-black body will likely make this young penguin stand out from the crowd, which may make survival more difficult.

There is hope for the young penguin though. People have documented melanistic penguins living to become adults in the past.

No matter the challenges that this penguin chick may face in the future, everyone can agree that it is a very cute bird today and hopefully it will have a long and healthy life ahead of it.

If you want to see the penguin, check out this video:

What a cute little guy!

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about the mysterious “pyramids” discovered in Antarctica. What are they?