King penguin
King penguin | |
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King penguin South Georgia
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Sphenisciformes |
Family: | Spheniscidae |
Genus: | Aptenodytes |
Species: | A. patagonicus
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Binomial name | |
Aptenodytes patagonicus Miller, JF, 1778
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Red: Aptenodytes patagonicus patagonicus Yellow: Aptenodytes patagonicus halli |
The king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) is the second largest species of
King penguins mainly eat
.The king penguin breeds on the
This bird was exploited commercially in the past for its blubber, oil, meat, and feathers. Today, it is fully protected.
Taxonomy
In 1778, the English illustrator
Appearance
The king penguin stands at 70 to 100 cm (28 to 39 in) tall and weighs from 9.3 to 18 kg (21 to 40 lb).[7][8][9] Although female and male king penguins are monomorphic they can be separated by their calls.[10] Males are also slightly larger than females. The mean body mass of adults from Marion Island was 12.4 kg (27 lb) for 70 males and 11.1 kg (24 lb) for 71 females. Another study from Marion Island found that the mean mass of 33 adults feeding chicks was 13.1 kg (29 lb). The king penguin is approximately 25% shorter and weighs around a third less than the emperor penguin.[11][12]
At first glance, the king penguin appears very similar to the larger, closely related emperor penguin, with a broad cheek patch contrasting with surrounding dark feathers and yellow-orange plumage at the top of the chest. However, the cheek patch of the adult king penguin is a solid bright orange whereas that of the emperor penguin is yellow and white, and the upper chest tends to be more orange and less yellowish in the king species. Both have colourful markings along the side of their lower mandible, but these tend towards pink in emperor penguin and orange in king penguin.
Emperor and king penguins typically do not inhabit the same areas in the wild, with the possible exception of vagrants at sea, but the two can be distinguished from one another by the king's longer, straighter bill, larger flippers, and noticeably sleeker body. The juvenile king penguin with its long bill and heavy dark brown down is completely different in appearance from the mostly grey emperor chick with its black and white mask. Once moulted of its brown juvenile plumage, the king chick resembles the adult, but is somewhat less colourful.
King penguins often breed on the same large, circumpolar islands as at least half of all living penguins, but it is easily distinguished from other species by its much larger size and taller frame, colorful markings, and grizzled sooty-greyish rather than blackish back.[7][13][14]
Distribution and habitat
King penguins breed on
The Falklands and South Georgia had no trees to use for firewood, so the whalers burned millions of oily, blubber-rich penguins as fuel for the constant fires needed to boil whale blubber for extraction of the oil; the whalers also used penguin oil for lamps, heating, and cooking, in addition to eating the birds and their eggs. Macquarie Island currently has around 70,000 pairs. The non-breeding range is unknown due to many vagrant birds having been seen on the Antarctic peninsula as well as in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
One of the largest known King penguin colonies, on Île aux Cochons in the Crozet Islands, is thought to have experienced a massive drop in its population over the last few decades, from about half a million breeding pairs in the 1980s to about 60,000 breeding pairs in 2017.[15] The cause of this decline may be due to changes in the ecosystem related to climate change as their primary source of food is moving farther away from places where the penguins can breed. This may result in population declines and shifts in the locations of the King penguin breeding grounds.[16]
The Nature Protection Society released several king penguins in Gjesvær in Finnmark, and Røst in Lofoten in northern Norway in August, 1936. Penguins were seen in the area several times during the 1940s; though none have been officially recorded since 1949, there were a few unconfirmed sightings of penguins in the area during the early 1950s.[17]
Ecology and behavior
American zoologist Gerry Kooyman revolutionized the study of penguin foraging behaviour in 1971 when he published his results from attaching automatic dive-recording devices to emperor penguins,[18] and recording a dive of 235 metres (771 ft) by a king penguin in 1982.[19] The current maximum dive recorded is 343 metres in the Falkland Islands region,[20] and a maximum time submerged of 552 seconds was recorded at the Crozet Islands.[21] The king penguin dives to depths of 100–300 meters (350–1000 feet), spending around five minutes submerged, during daylight hours, and less than 30 metres (98 ft) at night.[22][23]
The majority (around 88% in one study) of dives undertaken by king penguins are flat-bottomed; that is, the penguin dives to a certain depth and remains there for a period of time hunting (roughly 50% of total dive time) before returning to the surface. They have been described as U-shaped or W-shaped, relating to the course of the dive. The remaining 12% of dives have a V-shaped or "spike" pattern, in which the bird dives at an angle through the water column, reaches a certain depth, and then returns to the surface. In contrast, other penguins dive in this latter foraging pattern.[22][24] Observations at Crozet Islands revealed most king penguins were seen within 30 km (19 mi) of the colony.[25] Using the average swimming speed, Kooyman estimated the distance travelled to foraging areas at 28 km (17 mi).[22]
The king penguin's average swimming speed is 6.5–10 km/h (4–6 mph). On shallower dives under 60 m (200 ft), it averages 2 km/h (1.2 mph) descending and ascending, while on deeper dives over 150 m (490 ft) deep, it averages 5 km/h (3.1 mph) in both directions.[23][26] King penguins also "porpoise", a swimming technique used to breathe while maintaining speed. On land, the king penguin alternates between walking with a wobbling gait and tobogganing—sliding over the ice on its belly, propelled by its feet and wing-like flippers. Like all penguins, it is flightless.[27]
Diet
King penguins eat various species of small fish,
Predators
The king penguin's
- Giant petrels take many chicks of all sizes and some eggs. They will also occasionally kill adult king penguins, but very likely mostly sick or injured birds. Giant petrels also scavenge adult king penguins and chicks which have died from other causes.[28][29]
- Skua species (Stercorarius spp.) take smaller chicks and eggs. Some studies may have overstated the effect skua predation has on king penguin colonies, but large numbers of chicks and eggs are taken in areas where skua nest close to penguin colonies.[30][31][32]
- The snowy sheathbill (Chionis alba) and kelp gull (Larus dominicanus) scavenge for dead chicks and unattended eggs.[33]
- The leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) takes adult birds and fledglings at sea.[34]
- Orcas also hunt king penguins.[35]
- Male and especially pre-adult male
Courtship and breeding
The king penguin is able to breed at three years of age, although only a very small minority (5% recorded at Crozet Islands) actually do then; the average age of first breeding is around 5–6 years.
The king penguin has an extremely prolonged breeding cycle, taking around 14–16 months from laying to offspring fledging.[41] Although pairs will attempt to breed annually, they are generally only successful one year in two, or two years in three in a triennial pattern in South Georgia.[34] The reproductive cycle begins in September to November, as birds return to colonies for a prenuptial moult. Those that were unsuccessful in breeding the previous season will usually arrive earlier. They then return to the sea for around three weeks before coming ashore in November or December.[42]
The female penguin lays one pyriform (pear-shaped) white
Hatching may take up to 2–3 days to complete and chicks are born
By April, the chicks are almost fully grown but lose weight by fasting over the winter months, gaining it again during spring in September. Fledging then takes place in late spring/early summer.
King penguins form huge breeding colonies; for example, the colony on
The king penguin feeds its chicks by eating fish, digesting it slightly, and regurgitating the food into the chick's mouth.
Because of their large size, king penguin chicks take 14–16 months before they are ready to go to sea. This is markedly different from smaller penguins, who rear their chicks through a single summer when food is plentiful. King penguins time their mating so the chicks will develop over the harshest season for fishing. In this way, by the time the young penguins are finally mature enough to leave their parents, it is summer when food is plentiful and conditions are more favorable for the young to survive alone at sea.
Conservation
Impact of climate change
70% of king penguins are expected to abruptly disappear in less than eighty years.[46] Considered sensitive indicators of changes in marine ecosystems, king penguins serve as a key species for understanding the effects of climate change on the marine biome, especially throughout the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic areas.[47]
King penguins primarily feed at the
Resource competition
King penguins are also threatened by large-scale commercial fishing that could deplete their main source of food: myctophid fish. Over 200,000 tons of myctophid fish were commercially exploited by the beginning of the 1990s in the South Georgia region. Ongoing attempts to further develop this fishery for human consumption close to key penguin foraging areas are likely to have negative impacts on food provisioning.[49]
Research and management
The Pew Charitable Trust recommends the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) implement "large-scale, fully protected marine reserves in the waters surrounding Antarctica." The Trust also recommends precautionary management of the Antarctic krill fishery in order to protect king penguins' main source of food. The CCAMLR is made up of 24 countries (plus the European Union), among those are the United States and China, that withhold the authority to enact such protective measures.[50] It has also been suggested that in conservation modeling, special attention be paid to the southernmost breeding locations, given the predicted rise in water temperature in the Southern Ocean, and that complete regular censuses of breeding populations be carried out to detect temporal trends and environmental changes.[49]
The species is classified as
Relationship with humans
In captivity
Considered a
Notable king penguins
- Royal Norwegian Guard
- Misha, a central character and metaphor in two novels by Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkov
- The king penguin is also the species of penguin represented by the popular character Pondus, an image found on various paraphernalia in many retail stores throughout Canada. Pondus originates in Danish children's books written and photographed by Ivar Myrhøj and published in 1997 by Lademann publisher in the late 1960s. These penguins appeared in the production of Batman Returns.
- Lala the Penguin became a viral video star after an Animal Planet special featured him venturing to a nearby market in Japan to fetch a fish with a specially made backpack.[55] Lala had been accidentally caught by a fisherman. The fisherman and his family nursed Lala back to health and then adopted him as a pet.[56]
References
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- ^ Mathews, Gregory (1920). Birds of Australia. Vol. 1. London: Witherby. p. 274.
- ^ Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds. (1979). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 122.
- Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2023). "Kagu, Sunbittern, tropicbirds, loons, penguins". IOC World Bird List Version 13.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
- ^ ISBN 978-951-98947-0-6.
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- ^ Young, E. (2005). Skua and penguin: predator and prey. Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Williams, p. 40
- ^ a b Stonehouse, B (1960). "The King Penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus of South Georgia I. Breeding behaviour and development". Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey Scientific Report. 23: 1–81.
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- ^ Walker, Matt (2010-01-21). "King penguins become fast food for Antarctic fur seals". Retrieved 28 September 2012.
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- ^ Williams, p. 151
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- ^ Williams, p. 149
- ^ a b Williams, p. 150
- ^ a b Williams, p. 28
- ^ Sexton, Chrissy (2018-04-09). "Unique structure of king penguin colonies makes them resilient".
- ^ a b "Climate change: 70% of king penguins could 'abruptly relocate or disappear' by 2100". Carbon Brief. 2018-02-26. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
- ^ "Climate change threatens most king penguin habitat". www.mprnews.org. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
- ^ a b c "The King Penguin: Life History, current status and priority conservation actions. In: Penguins Book". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
- ^ "Protecting King Penguins Fact Sheet" (PDF). The PEW Charitable Trusts.
- ^ Diebold EN, Branch S, Henry L (1999). "Management of penguin populations in North American zoos and aquariums" (PDF). Marine Ornithology. 27: 171–76. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
- ^ "Penguin Feed/Chat". Indianapolis Zoo website. Indianapolis Zoo. Archived from the original on 2011-08-28. Retrieved 2011-12-01.
- ^ "King Penguin". Saint Louis Zoo website. Saint Louis Zoo. 2009. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
- ^ "Stock Photo – King penguin in asahiyama zoo, asahikawa in hokkaido, japan". 123RF.
- ^ "Lala Penguin Goes Shopping". Animal Planet. 2011.
- ^ del Castillo, Inigo. "In Japan, a penguin with a backpack walks alone to the fish market". Lost At E Minor. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
External links
- King penguin on PenguinWorld
- Aptenodytes patagonicus, the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology's Animal Diversity Web
- King penguin videos, photos & sounds, the Internet Bird Collection
- King penguins pruning video from the Falkland Islands
- https://archive.org/details/s4id13296820/page/n169 Johann R. Forster, "Historia Aptenodytae: Generis Avium Orbi Australi Propri", Commentationes Societatis Regiae Scientiarum Gottingensis (1778), Vol.III, 1781, pp. 211–148.