MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

King Penguin with avian pox; “one in zillion” black KP in South Georgia

A small percentage of King Penguins in a variety of locations around the South Georgia Island are suffering from disease, possibly avian pox, reports the latest edition of the South Georgia Newsletter.

Only two affected birds were seen amongst the many thousands at St Andrews Bay, but reports have been received of others at the other main colony sites such as Salisbury Plain and Gold Harbour, and afflicted birds have been seen locally in Cumberland Bay.

The affected birds have protruding and obvious lesions. Vets in the Falkland Islands have seen photographs of affected birds and think it may be an outbreak of avian pox, but no samples have yet been taken to confirm the identity of the disease. Penguin biologists are hopeful that the afflicted animals can survive the infection.

Tour ships were asked to be especially vigilant on overseeing their bio-security when moving from one site to another to minimise the risk of human activity spreading the disease.

In related news National Geographic reports that an all black king penguin, “a very rare mutant” was spotted and filmed in South Georgia.

While many king penguins and other penguins can have feather-colouring mutations, variations usually are partial.

The video was recorded by National Geographic Traveler Magazine contributor editor Andrew Evans on his bus2Antarctica expedition.

Dr. Allan Baker, an ornithologist and head of the Department of Natural History at the Royal Ontario Museum, called the discovery of the ‘all-black’ king penguin “astonishing.” He jokingly said “it’s a one in a zillion kind of mutation,” and scientifically calls it ‘very rare.’

He explains that typically, melanistic birds will have white spots where melanin pigmentation has failed to color the feathers. But it’s extremely rare for there to be melanin deposits over the entire breast of a bird.

Photographer Evans says he almost didn’t get the sighting recorded. As he got his camera positioned, the penguin started walking away.

Video on mutant all black penguin can be seen in the National Geographic web site