King penguins spend a lot of time in the ocean feeding, but their primary habitats are sparsely vegetated areas of islands in the southern oceans and sub-Antarctic. The islands south of the Polar Front are typically more glaciated and at higher altitudes. For example, Heard Island is 2745 meters above sea level. These islands are still out of reach of the Antarctic pack ice, but icy conditions are still prevalent. As in the case of South Georgia, the bays freeze over and the island is over half covered in ice during the winter months. In the locations not covered in ice, bryophytes are the primary vegetation. Islands like Macquarie (433 meters above sea level) have some flowering plants and ferns and the air temperature only varies a few degrees between the summer and winter seasons.
While king penguins prefer to live on islands south of the Polar Front, they prefer to fish in waters just north of it where surface air temperatures are around 4.5 degrees C. They have been known to dive to a maximum of 322 meters.
Range elevation: 433 to 2745 m.
Range depth: 0 to 322 m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial ; saltwater or marine
Terrestrial Biomes: tundra
Aquatic Biomes: pelagic
Antarctic fur seals, sub-Antarctic fur seals, leopard seals, and killer whales regularly prey on adult king penguins. Also, brown skuas and giant petrels prey on king penguin chicks.
Known Predators:
King penguins are the second largest of all penguin species. Females are noted to be slightly smaller than males. However, no specific female measurements have been recorded. Their documented height ranges from 85 to 95 cm and weight is between 9.3 and 17.3 kg. Average adult weight has been found to be 11.8 kg.
Although they are easily confused with emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri), king penguins are more colorful and have a longer, more slender bill. This bill has a stripe on the lower mandible that ranges in color from pinkish-red to orange-yellow and exhibits ultraviolet (UV) reflectance. The function of this beak spot is unclear, but it is thought to signal sexual maturity, health and/or social standing. The spot, without UV reflectance, is found in juveniles. Neither the beak spot nor UV reflectance are seen in chicks. This UV reflective beak spot does not differ between sexes.
Adult king penguins have a dark, nearly black head with orange to orange-yellow, spoon-shaped spots on either side of the head and an orange area that is most intense at the throat and fades down the upper breast into pale yellow then finally a white ventral side. The dorsal side of the body and flippers consist of gray and black feathers with a silvery sheen. The sides are separated from the ventral side by a narrow, black line. The front edge of the flipper also has a black line that extends to a black tip. King penguins are sexually monomorphic in plumage, but males are slightly larger.
Juvenile king penguins are similar to adults, but their coloration isn't as vivid. They do not reach full adult coloration until three years of age. Prior to the first molt, the chicks are simply dark brown.
There is no evidence of physical differences between the two subspecies.
Range mass: 9.3 to 17.3 kg.
Average mass: 11.8 kg.
Range length: 85 to 95 cm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike; male larger
Average basal metabolic rate: 25.889 W.
Aptenodytes patagonicus has been generically documented as a long-lived bird. However, no numerical lifespan data has been published. Captive king penguins can live up to 26 years.
Range lifespan
Status: captivity: 26 (high) years.
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 26 years.
Aptenodytes patagonicus (king penguins) colonies are mainly located on islands surrounding Antarctica. Islands include Crozet, Falkland, Heard, Kerguelen, Macquarie, Prince Edward, South Georgia and South Sandwich. Although no colonies have been found south of latitude 60 degrees S, some non-breeding members have taken residence in southern Chile and southern Argentina. Some lone wanderers have been found as far north as Brazil and South Africa and as far south as the Antarctic Coast.
On South Georgia Island over 30 colonies of A. patagonicus patagonicus reside. Colony sizes range from approximately 39,000 breeding pairs at both Salisbury Plains and St. Andrews Bay to 9,000 pairs located at Royal Bay. This subspecies is only found on South Georgia and the Falkland Islands. Another genetically unique subspecies, A. patagonicus halli, is only found on Crozet, Heard, Kerguelen, Macquarie and Prince Edwards islands.
Biogeographic Regions: antarctica (Native ); oceanic islands (Native )
Aptenodytes patagonicus travels up to 500 km from its colony to the ocean to feed on cephalopods, small fish, and squid. They can remain underwater approximately 10 minutes and reach speeds of 12 km per hour while diving 25 to 322 m. Adults take turns returning at irregular intervals to supplement the young that stay in the breeding grounds. During their first winter the chicks predominantly survive from their stored fat.
Animal Foods: fish; mollusks; other marine invertebrates
Primary Diet: carnivore (Piscivore )
King penguins occasionally serve as prey for Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazelle), subantarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus tropicalis), brown skuas (Catharacta lonnbergi) and giant petrels (Macronectes giganteus). None of these predators appear to control the king penguin population because they are not a primary food source, and the king penguin population is steadily growing. King penguins act as predators for cephalopods, small fish and squid found in their geographic range, but there is no documentation stating if the populations are controlled by this predation.
The hard tick, Ixodes uriae, is a parasite that infests king penguins. The mortality rate of adult king penguins due to hard ticks is unknown; however, there is documentation of death due to hyperinfestation of hard ticks. A bird louse, Austrogoniodes pauliani, is also a common parasite found on these penguins.
Commensal/Parasitic Species:
King penguins are part of the ecotourism business. During a study of nature-based tourism on the Falkland Islands, king penguins were the most popular of the penguins in the area. All of the tourists visited the king penguin colony, versus only half of the tourists visiting the second most popular penguins species. The tourists also stayed to view the king penguins for the longest time frame at a mean of 63 minutes versus only 19 minutes for the second most popular penguin species.
Positive Impacts: ecotourism
There are no known negative economic effects of king penguins on humans.
The IUCN Red List states that king penguins have a status of Least Concern based on the following criteria: geographic range is greater than 20,000 square kilometers, population size is greater than 10,000 individuals, and the population size seems to be increasing.
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
The primary form of communication in king penguins is a two-voice system that is produced by the syrinx, a two-part organ located where the bronchi join. Each part produces sound independently. In penguins, the syrinx is only found in the genus Aptenodytes. The UV reflective beak spots may be used for signaling, but the true use is unknown.
Due to the noisy environment of king penguin colonies, adults repeatedly call out 3 to 7 syllables of varying volumes with two frequencies to locate chicks. The chicks are thought to identify the calls by the lower of the two frequencies because they transmit farther in the seeming chaos of many adults calling at once. The higher frequency has no documented use. This ability has been termed "cocktail-party effect." The parental call is thought to be learned during the first five weeks of life and is important because of the lack of nests and landmarks in the king penguins' habitats.
At this time communication research is mainly focused on the parent/offspring connection, but it is believed that the two-voice systems are also used to locate mates.
King penguins also incorporate movements and behaviors into courtship rituals. Males will produce trumpeting calls and stretch to their maximum height to attract mates. Once a female accepts, the two will stand facing each other and will engage in a series of stretching, bobbing, shaking, bowing, and calling. Like all birds, king penguins perceive their environments through visual, auditory, tactile and chemical stimuli.
Communication Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
King penguins have a lower rate of monogamy than smaller penguin species. Currently, there is no definitive answer as to why this occurs; however, two explanations have merit: 1) mates not arriving to the colony at the same time, and 2) the amount of fat the penguin has stored. Fat storage plays a role in the low monogamy rate because if the penguins begin storing fat too early they become more vulnerable to predators. If they begin storing fat too late, they may not return to the colony at the same time as their mate. If both mates do not arrive at the colony at the same time, breeding can be delayed or a new mate may be chosen.
Females appear to be more selective than males when choosing a mate, but both sexes seem to choose a mate based on their plumage. Early breeding pairs have higher ultraviolet reflectance of beak spots than those breeding later in the season. The plumage color on the breasts and auricular areas are thought to directly reflect the health of a king penguin’s immune system. The healthier it is, the brighter the plumage.
Males advertise for mates with a combination of vocalizations and visual displays. Male king penguins produce a trumpeting call and then stretch to full height with bills raised. Once a female accepts, the two face each other and continue to engage in physical displays including strutting, bowing, shaking, calling, and stretching to maximum height with bills in the air.
Mating System: monogamous
King penguins breed yearly on the flat shorelines of the sub-Antarctic islands. Their cycle beings with a 1-month molting stage for both parents, which is complete by the end of October. Once the molt is complete, the courtship stage can last for just over a month. The female lays a single, greenish-white egg in November or December. This is transferred to the male penguin's feet and is incubated for approximately 54 days under a pouch of belly skin that keeps it at the penguin’s internal body temperature. After laying the egg, the female leaves to feed and replenish the weight that was lost. When the female returns, the partners take turns in incubating the egg, with shifts ranging from 5 to 22 days. The average birth mass for king penguin chicks is 430 g. Post-hatching, the parents continue taking turns to incubate and feed the chick until May, when it is big enough to survive on its own.
By May, the chicks are fairly independent. They stay with the colony and survive off their stored fat until the following October. In these months, both parents leave to forage and return periodically to feed their chick. During that time the chicks live in crèches (groups of juveniles) until they have gained enough weight to become completely independent. Birth to independence takes 14 to 16 months. Juvenile king penguins do not reach reproductive maturity until 3 to 5 years of age.
Successful parents do not begin their next breeding cycle until their chick has successfully fledged. This causes a successful breeding pair to begin the next season late. The outcome is usually a failed cycle because an egg laid after December typically is not successful. However, this failure allows them to breed earlier the following season. The earlier that the breeding cycle begins the more likely it is to be successful. This biennial pattern to their breeding cycle makes king penguin reproduction unique.
Not all breeding pairs in a colony are on the same biennial cycle, and not all are guaranteed to follow the success-fail-success-fail pattern. It is most likely for them to follow this pattern or a success-fail-fail-success pattern. Some are on alternating cycles so that there are chicks born during every breeding season.
It is believed that food availability plays a role in the timing and success rate of the breeding cycle because it directly affects the health of the parent.
Breeding interval: King penguins breed once yearly, but normally are successful twice over 3 calendar years.
Breeding season: King penguins breed between October and December.
Average eggs per season: 1.
Average time to hatching: 54 days.
Range fledging age: 14 to 16 months.
Range time to independence: 14 to 16 months.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 3 (low) years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 5 years.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 3 (low) years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 5 years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous
King penguin parents highly invest in their reproductive cycles. The males must begin the cycle with enough fat stored to sustain them through courtship, egg-laying and the first part of incubation. By the end of their first incubation shift the males have typically lost 30 percent of their body weight. A minimum body mass of 10 kg is considered to be a critical mass for male king penguins. When they are approaching 10 kg, the males must choose whether to abandon the egg or to continue waiting for the female to return and relieve them. Hatchlings are semi-altricial, and therefore have considerable development to achieve post-hatching. This requires a large parental investment to brood and nourish the young.
Parental Investment: altricial ; male parental care ; female parental care ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-independence (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female)
The king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) is the second largest species of penguin, smaller, but somewhat similar in appearance to the emperor penguin. There are two subspecies: A. p. patagonicus and A. p. halli; patagonicus is found in the South Atlantic and halli in the South Indian Ocean (at the Kerguelen Islands, Crozet Island, Prince Edward Islands and Heard Island and McDonald Islands) and at Macquarie Island.[1]
King penguins mainly eat lanternfish, squid and krill. On foraging trips, king penguins repeatedly dive to over 100 metres (300 ft), and have been recorded at depths greater than 300 metres (1,000 ft).[2] Predators of the king penguin include giant petrels, skuas, the snowy sheathbill, the leopard seal and the orca.
The king penguin breeds on the Subantarctic islands at the northern reaches of Antarctica, South Georgia, and other temperate islands of the region. It also lives on Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean.
This bird was exploited commercially in the past for its blubber, oil, meat, and feathers. Today, it is fully protected.
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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).[3][4][5] Although female and male king penguins are monomorphic they can be separated by their calls.[6] 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.[7][8]
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.[3][9][10]
King penguins breed on subantarctic islands between 45 and 55°S, at the northern reaches of Antarctica, as well as Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, and other temperate islands of the region. The total population is estimated to be 2.23 million pairs and is increasing.[3] The largest breeding populations are on the Crozet Islands, with around 455,000 pairs, 228,000 pairs on the Prince Edward Islands, 240,000–280,000 on the Kerguelen Islands and over 100,000 in the South Georgia archipelago. By the early 1920s, the King penguin population on South Georgia and the Falklands was nearly wiped out by whalers on these islands.
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 to extract 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.[11] 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.[12]
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.[13]
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,[14] and recording a dive of 235 metres (771 ft) by a king penguin in 1982.[15] The current maximum dive recorded is 343 metres in the Falkland Islands region,[16] and a maximum time submerged of 552 seconds recorded at the Crozet Islands.[17] 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.[18][19]
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.[18][20] Observations at Crozet Islands revealed most king penguins were seen within 30 km (19 mi) of the colony.[21] Using the average swimming speed, Kooyman estimated the distance travelled to foraging areas at 28 km (17 mi).[18]
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.[19][22] 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.[23]
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King penguins eat various species of small fish, squid, and krill. Fish constitute roughly 80% of their diet, except in winter months of July and August, when they make up only around 30%.[19] Lanternfish are the main fish taken, principally the species Electrona carlsbergi and Krefftichthys anderssoni, as well as Protomyctophum tenisoni. Slender escolar (Paradiplospinus gracilis) of the Gempylidae, and Champsocephalus gunneri, is also consumed. Cephalopods consumed include those of the genus Moroteuthis, the hooked squid or Kondakovia longimana, the sevenstar flying squid (Martialia hyadesii), young Gonatus antarcticus and Onychoteuthis species.[19]
The king penguin's predators include other seabirds and aquatic mammals:
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.[34] King penguins are serially monogamous. They have only one mate each year, and stay faithful to that mate. However, fidelity between years is less than 30%.[35] The unusually long breeding cycle probably contributes to this low rate.[36]
The king penguin has an extremely prolonged breeding cycle, taking around 14–16 months from laying to offspring fledging.[37] 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 on South Georgia.[30] 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.[38]
The female penguin lays one pyriform (pear-shaped) white egg weighing 300 g (⅔ lb).[39] It is initially soft, but hardens and darkens to a pale greenish colour. It measures around 10 cm × 7 cm (3.9 in × 2.8 in).[39] The egg is incubated for around 55 days with both birds sharing incubation in shifts of 6–18 days each. Like the closely related emperor penguin, the king penguin balances the egg on its feet and incubates it in a "brood pouch".
Hatching may take up to 2–3 days to complete, and chicks are born semi-altricial and nidicolous. In other words, they have only a thin covering of down, and are entirely dependent on their parents for food and warmth.[40] The guard phase begins with the hatching of the chick. Similar to the emperor penguin, the young king penguin chick spends its time balanced on its parents' feet, sheltered in the brood pouch formed from the abdominal skin of the latter.[40] During this time, the parents alternate every 3–7 days, one guarding the chick while the other forages for food. The guard phase lasts for 30–40 days. By then the chick has grown much larger, and is better able to both keep warm and protect itself against most predators. King chicks are very curious and will wander far when exploring their surroundings. The chicks form a group, called a crèche and are watched over by only a few adult birds; most parents leave their chick in these crèches to forage for themselves and their chick. Other species of penguins also practice this method of communal care for offspring.
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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 South Georgia Island at Salisbury Plain holds over 100,000 breeding pairs and the colony at St. Andrew's Bay over 100,000 birds. Because of the very long breeding cycle, colonies are continuously occupied year-round with both adult birds and chicks. During breeding, king penguins do not build nests, although they show strong territorial behaviour and keep a pecking distance to neighbouring penguins. Penguin positions in breeding colonies are highly stable over weeks and appear regularly spaced.[41]
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.
70% of king penguins are expected to abruptly disappear in less than eighty years.[42] 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.[43]
King penguins primarily feed at the Antarctic Convergence, which provides 80% of their food biomass.[44] King penguins currently travel 300–500 km over a course of over a week to complete the journey. However, ocean warming could easily move these fronts further away from breeding grounds. Continuous ocean warming could cause the convergence zone to move polewards, away from king penguin breeding sites like the Falklands and the Crozet Islands. It has been suggested that if carbon emissions continue to rise at their current rate, king penguins will need to travel an additional 200 km in order to reach their feeding areas. Breeding grounds will also suffer with the rise of emissions. Nearly half of the total population will likely lose their breeding grounds by the year 2100.[42]
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.[45]
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.[46] 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.[45]
The species is classified as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species. Since 2004, the IUCN has reported that the population size is large and has increased its breeding rates. Adult king penguins have maintained high survival rates since the 1970s.[1] The steady population of king penguins is due largely to current conservation efforts to protect nesting habitats. Ecotourism and public access to all king penguin breeding sites are heavily restricted in order to prevent outbreaks of disease and general disturbance. All of the colonies in Crozet and Kerguelen Islands are protected under the oversight of the Reserve Naturelle Nationales des Terres australes et Antarctiques Françaises. Additionally, South Georgian penguins reside in a "special protected area within the Environmental Management Plan for South Georgia." And in the Falklands, all wildlife—including the king penguin—is protected under the Conservation of Wildlife and Nature Bill of 1999.[45]
Considered a flagship species, 176 individuals were counted in captivity in North American zoos and aquaria in 1999.[47] The species is exhibited at SeaWorld Orlando, Indianapolis Zoo,[48] Detroit Zoo, Saint Louis Zoo,[49] Kansas City Zoo, Newport Aquarium in Newport, Kentucky, Edinburgh Zoo and Birdland in the United Kingdom, Berlin Zoological Garden in Germany, Zurich Zoo and Zoo Basel in Switzerland, Diergaarde Blijdorp in the Netherlands, Antwerp Zoo in Belgium, 63 Seaworld in Seoul, South Korea, Melbourne Aquarium in Australia, Mar del Plata Aquarium in Argentina, Loro Parque in Spain and Ski Dubai in United Arab Emirates, Calgary Zoo in Canada, Odense Zoo in Denmark, Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido, Japan,[50] and many other collections.
The king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) is the second largest species of penguin, smaller, but somewhat similar in appearance to the emperor penguin. There are two subspecies: A. p. patagonicus and A. p. halli; patagonicus is found in the South Atlantic and halli in the South Indian Ocean (at the Kerguelen Islands, Crozet Island, Prince Edward Islands and Heard Island and McDonald Islands) and at Macquarie Island.
King penguins mainly eat lanternfish, squid and krill. On foraging trips, king penguins repeatedly dive to over 100 metres (300 ft), and have been recorded at depths greater than 300 metres (1,000 ft). Predators of the king penguin include giant petrels, skuas, the snowy sheathbill, the leopard seal and the orca.
The king penguin breeds on the Subantarctic islands at the northern reaches of Antarctica, South Georgia, and other temperate islands of the region. It also lives on Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean.
This bird was exploited commercially in the past for its blubber, oil, meat, and feathers. Today, it is fully protected.
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