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Australian Wildlife

  King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus)





King Penguin | Aptenodytes patagonicus photo
King Penguin in St Andrews Bay, South Georgia, British Overseas Territories, UK

Image by Liam Quinn from Canada - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

King Penguin | Aptenodytes patagonicus photo
King Penguin rookery at Lusitania Bay, Macquarie Island

Image by Hullwarren - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)

King Penguin | Aptenodytes patagonicus photo
East coast beach - Macquarie Island

Image by Hullwarren - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







KING PENGUIN FACTS

Description
The King Penguin is the second largest penguin (after the Emperor Penguin), and the largest penguin recorded in Australia. The head is black, back is grey and chest is white. The back of the head has a yellow tear-shaped mark. Bill has pink at base. Chicks have a thick brown downy coat and develop adult plumage after about 2 years. The Emperor Penguin is similar, but larger in size, and has paler marking on the neck.

Size
91cm

Habitat
oceans, sub-Antarctic islands

Food
fish, squid, crustaceans

Breeding
Lays a single white egg about 10cm in length. The adult birds take turns incubating the egg which hatches after about 55 days.

Range
Breeds on sub-Antarctic islands including Macquarie Island and Heard Island. Has been recorded as a vagrant on coast of Tasmania and Victoria

distribution map showing range of Aptenodytes patagonicus in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Sphenisciformes
Family:Spheniscidae
Genus:Aptenodytes
Species:patagonicus
Common Name:King Penguin

Relatives in same Genus
  Emperor Penguin (A. forsteri)