Wild Facts

Photo by Samuel Blanc.

Did You Know?

• The King Penguin is the second largest penguin in the world – the Emperor Penguin has them beat by a tiny smidgeon
• Unlike other predators living of the Antarctic coast, this Penguin relies less on krill and crustaceans and more on fish and squid (not a bad diet, if you like seafood)
• For once, there is a good news story surrounding penguin populations. Currently the King Penguin population is sitting around 2.23 million pairs is still increasing on a regular basis

The King Penguin is How Big?

You can’t be the second largest penguin in the world and not have some size to you, right? Of course not, the King Penguin weighs about 16 kg (36 lbs) and grow to about 90 cm (3 ft) tall. Sure this doesn’t sound very large compared to other animals but for a bird…this is quite big. Of course this poses a very important question. Where does a 3 foot tall penguin find such an adorable tuxedo? Well, where do you find anything these days? At the biggest online store! Believe it or not, Amazon Sells Tuxedos, although, I am not sure if they have any in stock that are fit for a King Penguin.  The next question you have to ask yourself is how in the world does a small tuxedo keep this Antarctic dweller warm?

Photo by Ville Miettinen

Dress Warm When You Live In Antarctica

This isn’t any ordinary tuxedo that the King Penguins is sporting. In fact, outfit has four layers of feathers acting as insulation with the outer layer being coated in oil, which essentially waterproofs their entire wardrobe (a waterproof tux…cool). Believe it or not, this particular penguin has roughly 70 feathers for every square inch of body space. That is a ton of feathers, which must make preening very time consuming. When a King Penguin is born they don’t have a full suit as they are missing the outer, oily layer. This means that immature penguins are not able to play around in the water…or more importantly, they are not allowed to go fishing for food. Instead, these anxious penguin chicks wait on the shoreline until their down feathers fall off – and that is when the real fun begins!

Photo by Andrea

It is Sunday night and I am dying of heat here in the Yukon so I thought to help beat the summer sun I would write a post about a true winter bird, the Little Penguin.  But wait!  This particular penguin lives in New Zealand, Australia and some have even been recorded in Chile.  I don’t think those places are nearly cold enough to give me a reprieve from my summer heat. Oh well, we are this far into the fact so we might as well continue.

As you may have guessed the Little Penguin also known as the Fairy Penguin in Australia gets its name from their small size.  This “little” Penguin is about 35 – 50 cm (14-20″) tall and weighs up to 3 kg (6.6 lbs).  Not surprising this penguin provides a great snack to many land-based predators. In an attempt to thwart becoming dessert the Little Penguin will spend the entire year in a large colony.  You know the old “safety in numbers” thing. This makes sense because if I was that small I would surround myself with as many “friends” as possible hoping one of them gets picked off before me.

This little blue penguin is a deadly predator itself.  They may be small but they are still carnivores and like other penguins feed entirely on marine animals.  If they had to choose a favourite then it would probably be krill or other small crustaceans since they make up the majority of their diet. When they are in the mood for something different they will mix up their diet with squid or certain fish species. You gotta love seafood!

Little Penguin

The Little Penguin is much like other penguins in that they usually mate for life.  The female will normally lay two eggs into a self-dug burrow which both parents will incubate over the following month.  Many times only one of the eggs will hatch and will cause the parents to blame each other for ruining the other egg.  Okay, they obviously don’t bicker like that, well I don’t think they do.  Once the baby Penguin is born the parents will feed it and keep it warm for about 3 months. I don’t know what it is about penguins but I find all species to be very fascinating.  I hope you enjoyed today’s Wild Fact.  I am off to enjoy the rest of my day off.  I love long weekends!

Since it is the middle of summer for me and my Northern Hemisphere friends I figured we could all use a break from the heat and humidity.  Actually, I don’t really need a break since the Yukon hasn’t been unbearably warm but that is not the point.  In order to get some relief from the pesky summer sun we are heading to Antarctica to learn about one of the most fascinating birds, the Emperor Penguin.  You can’t tell me you are not excited to learn about the largest penguin species.

The Emperor Penguin is endemic to Antarctica and can weigh anywhere between 22 to 45 kg (49 to 99 lbs).  I am sure we can all see the problem with living in Antarctica, which is how the heck do you deal with the cold.  Just so you know these flightless birds will often have to put up with temperatures as low as minus 60 degrees Celsius (-76 degrees Fahrenheit).  Maybe taking a field trip here wasn’t such a good idea.  I am getting a chill just thinking about all of the snow and ice.  Luckily the Emperor Penguins are smart and will all huddle together to keep warm and block out the frigid wind chill.  Usually they will form a circle and they will take turns standing in the middle to warm up from the cold.  It is interesting how they realize the importance of helping each other so they can all survive.

The crazy thing about these penguins is they will even breed during this harsh season.  Talk about uncomfortable! The female will usually lay a single egg and immediately leave it behind while she goes out on an extended hunting trip.  In some case she may have to travel as far as 80 km (50 miles) just to reach the open water so she can feed on fish, squid and other aquatic animals.  While she is out hunting the male will stay home and protect that single egg.  Unlike most birds he will not sit on the egg.  Nope he prefers to stand and protect the egg from the harsh elements by balancing it on his feet and covering it up with his feathered skin, also known as the brood pouch.  There is no question that the male Emperor Penguin should win father of the year as they will do this for about 2 months without eating anything.  Once the mother returns with a belly full of food for her young the male will then take off for his own hunting trip. I can imagine it would be a nice break after spending two months babysitting an egg.  The moral of this Wild Fact is to be grateful that we are humans and don’t have endure the harsh life that the Emperor Penguin has been forced to deal with.

Emperor Penguin Fast Fact – The Emperor Penguin is able to dive up to 565 m (1850 feet) which makes them the deepest diving bird.  As well, they are able to stay under water for about 20 minutes.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Diving Emperor Penguin - Photo by Glenn Grant, National Science Foundation