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DESCRIPTION
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112-115 cm tall, weight from 22 to 40 kg (49 to 89 lb). It is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species. Males and females are similar in plumage and size, although males are slightly larger than females. The head is black and sharply delineated from the white belly, pale-yellow breast and bright-yellow auricular patches. Adults have dark grey backs and white fronts with two black bands on the neck. The upper bill is black and the mandibular plates on the lower bill gradually turn pink to orange. Chicks are pale grey, with black head and white patches around the eyes and under the black bill that extend to the chin, like a white mask. Chicks go through two layers of down (hatching and cloverdown) before growing their juvenile plumage.
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DISTRIBUTION
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Circumpolar, endemic to Antarctica, almost exclusively between the 66° and 77° South.
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HABITAT
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Marine and pelagic, in Antarctic waters. It breeds on pack ice near the coast or up to more than 100 km inland.
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BREEDING BIOLOGY
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The only penguin species that breeds during the Antarctic winter, walking 50–120 km over the ice to their breeding colonies, which may include thousands of individuals. The onset of their breeding cycle at most colonies is dependent upon the formation of the fast-ice. A determinant of the arrival time of the penguins in their breeding area is the extent of fast-ice, i.e. the distance they have to traverse from the southern edge of the pack-ice to their breeding sites. This distance is highly variable both spatially and temporally. The most expansive fast-ice occurs in the Weddell Sea where it can stretch up to 400 km north. In large sections of East Antarctica the fast-ice is only about 100 km wide; in the Ross Sea, the extent of fast ice in the area of colonies is only a few kilometers. The individuals arrive at colony in March-April, copulation commences in mid-April, and females lay only one egg in May-June. There are no nests nor do pairs occupy individual territories. The egg is incubated by the male during 62 days on their feet, tucked into the brood pouch, while the female go to the sea to feed. In late July/early August, the chicks hatch and the females return relieving the males from their long fast. Parents subsequently take turns foraging at sea, and caring for their chick in the colony. The fledging is at 5 months. Sexual maturity is at 5 years old for females, 6 for males.
Photos by: M. Libertelli and B. Wienecke
