By Tim Binnall
A wildlife series from the BBC has captured what may be the first footage ever of an all-black emperor penguin. The remarkable video comes courtesy of the program Dynasty, which marveled that the creature could be "the rarest penguin on Earth." In the footage, the striking-looking bird can be seen meandering around with a fairly large flock of fellow feathered friends and seemingly fitting in among its black-and-white brethren just fine.
As to the reason for the penguin's all-black coloring, the bird has a pigment condition known as melanin. The rare trait actually popped up in the news last week with the widely celebrated photos of an all-black leopard roaming an animal reserve in Africa. What makes this penguin particularly noteworthy is that it has managed to survive to adulthood and evaded predators while possessing the mutation, which is no small feat for melanistic creatures.