Colour of the skin of Emperor Penguins

[Pingu]

Hi

 

What is the colour of an adult Emperor penguin's skin? I found a reference which indicates the chicks have gray skin, although I am not certain that this pigmentation is maintain until adulthood. 

 

 

 

 

Emperor Penguins

 

When they hatch the chick has gray skin and no feathers and is totally dependent on the adults for warmth. Their gray down fills in over the course of a few weeks with a black crown that extends from their bill to the back of their head and the sides of their neck, with white cheeks and chin. As the chick grows, the black pattern extends to their entire back. When immature, emperors are gray-blue while the adults are black, and their auricular patches as well as their undersides are white. Their bills are black with little white.

 

source http://www.travelwild.com/antarctica-wildlife/emperor-penguins.aspx

 

 

 

[Addicted2ColdTurkey]

"The skin looks like reptile skin: emperors have black scales with grey in-between " found this on a website but it is reffering to the color of their feet. Although the color of their feet matching the color of their body is likely

[Pingu]

"The skin looks like reptile skin: emperors have black scales with grey in-between " found this on a website but it is reffering to the color of their feet. Although the color of their feet matching the color of their body is likely

thanks for the reply Addicted2ColdTurkey, I think you are right about the colour of their feet, although I am not sure if it is the colour of the rest of their body, for example a grey horse typically has black skin except under white markings where it is pink, so the penguin skin could be of more than one colour.

 

I found a picture of a molting emperor penguin although I don't think the molt goes all the way to the skin meaning the colour of the molt coat is not necessarily reflective of the skin: See here

 

Also interesting is that the chicks have a predominantly white coloured face unlike the adults: See here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jake.com]

I found a picture of a molting emperor penguin although I don't think the molt goes all the way to the skin meaning the colour of the molt coat is not necessarily reflective of the skin

the molting definitely doesn't go all the way through to the skin. Just because of the fact that they live in Antarctica, I would have to say showing bare skin would be a fatal flaw for the penguins.

[SMF]

Pingu. Interesting question. You should be able to find the e-mail address of a penguin researcher and just ask them. Look at research articles that usually give institutional affiliation (check the website) of authors and sometimes contact information. You will find that most researchers are enthusiastic about their interests and are happy to help out with questions like yours. SM