Species Fact Profile: King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus)

King Penguin

Aptenodytes patagonicus (JF Miller, 1778)

Range: Sub-Antarctic Islands in South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, vagrants found as far north as Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand
Habitat: Sparsely-Vegetated Islands
Diet: Cephalopods, Small Fish
Social Grouping: Colonies of Tens of Thousands
Reproduction: Monogamous.  Males call for females by calling while displaying courtship rituals (bowing, shaking, stretching, bill-shaking).  Breed at the end of their molt (usually the end of October).  Single green-white egg is laid in November or December, incubated on top of the parents' feet.  One penguin will incubate while the other goes to sea to feed.  Incubation is 54 days.  Independent at 14-16 months, mature at 3-5 years old
Lifespan: 25 Years
Conservation Status: IUCN Least Concern

• Second-largest of the living penguins after the emperor penguin.  85-95 centimeters tall, weight 9.3-17.3 kilograms (average 11-12 kilograms).  Females are slightly smaller than males
• Both sexes look alike.  Very dark (nearly black) head with orange/yellow spots on either side of the head and orange area on the throat.  Back and wings are gray-black with a silvery sheen.  Stomach and breast are white.  The beak has a stripe on the lower mandible, red or yellow in color, though to denote health and breeding status.
• Chicks are dark brown when born.  After their first molt, they resemble adults, but with duller coloration.  They reach adult coloration at about three years of age
• Primarily communicate with a 3-7 syllable call unique to each bird, which parents are able to identify and locate their chicks by when returning from the sea
• Pursue prey underwater, can swim underwater for up to 10 minutes and reach speeds of up to 12 kilometers per hour.  Dive to depths of over 300 meters.  Build up fat reserves to survive the molt period, when they cannot swim
• Not territorial, but will compete for positions at the center of their colonies, possibly for increased protection from predators and the elements.  Breeding pairs will defend an area of a few square feet as a breeding site
• Predators of adults include orcas, leopard seals, and fur seals.  Eggs and chicks may be preyed upon by petrels and skuas
• Two subspecies - the nominate (found in the south Atlantic Ocean) and A. p. halli, found in the south Indian Ocean
• Populations currently appear stable, may be increasing, though some populations have undergone major declines, possibly due to overfishing
• Several king penguins were released in northern Norway in 1936, but none have been reported since the 1950s
• King penguins are integral to the history of the Edinburgh Zoo, which received its first king penguin from Roald Amundsen in 1913 and was the first zoo to breed the species.  The zoo houses Brigadier Sir Nils Olav, a mascot and honorary colonel-in-chief of Norway's King's Guard, which has been passed down through several generations of penguin