Isabelline penguins This is possibly in reference to the legend that the archduchess Isabella of Austria vowed not to change her undergarments until her husband united the northern and southern Low Countries by taking the city of Ostend–which took three years to accomplish. Isabellinism is different from albinism, though the faded color of the plumage calls albinism to mind. Isabelline penguins tend to live shorter lives than normal specimens, since their backs aren’t well camouflaged against the deep, and they are often passed over as mates, so the trait is selected against
Home / Questions / Perhaps one in 50,000 penguins (of most species) are born with brown rather than black plumage. What are they called?