Even though most penguins wear black and white tuxedos, there’s one handsome guy who’s shaking things up by donning a beautiful yellow coat.

In December 2019, a wildlife photographer got a shot of this endangered yellow penguin on a South Georgian island. They just shared the photos online. In the middle of all the mayhem—sea elephants, Antarctic fur seals, and thousands upon thousands of other king penguins—a king penguin strode directly towards us,” the Belgian photographer Yves Adams wrote on Instagram. I am really fortunate!

While escorting a photographic expedition across the South Atlantic, Adams came upon a colony of penguins swimming up onto a beach in South Georgia. One person stood out from the rest.

The yellow penguin was completely new to Adams, who stated as much in an interview with Kennedy News and Media. On that beach, out of 120,000 birds, this was the sole one with yellow plumage. Upon realizing that, we all lost our minds. In order to get our cameras, we set aside all of the safety gear.

King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) often have a black-and-white coat with a touch of yellowish-gold on the neck, similar to their close relative the emperor penguins. The Australian Antarctic Program reports that while certain penguin species do have these distinctive yellow pigments, penguins in general do not.

It seemed like this penguin had shed its black feathers—which are usually tinted by a substance called melanin—and was left with just its yellow ones.

Injuries, changes in nutrition, illnesses, or genetic abnormalities are among the uncommon causes of penguins’ unusual plumage. Leucism is a hereditary disоrder in which the yellow penguin loses some of its pigment cells. That penguin is leucistic because it lacks pigment, according to conservation biologist Dee Boersma of the University of Washingtоn. Real albinos are completely pigment-free.

Ecologist Kevin McGraw of Arizona State University made the following observation: “It does look albino from the perspective that it lacks all melanin in its plumage, feet, and eyes.” Nevertheless, conclusive testing is necessary to determine its pigment condition.

This yellow penguin is one of those rare birds whose unusual coloring can provide light on ecological mysteries; experts believe it is the result of a genetic anomaly. Added McGraw, “Penguins use body and plumage color for various functions, including mate selection and protection.”

“Our view wasn’t blocked by a sea of massive animals,” underlined photographer Adams, emphasizing the significance and rarity of the encounter. Usually, there are so many of them that it’s nearly hard to walk on this beach. The opportunity to see this once-in-a-lifetime performance was a blessing.