Emperor+penguin

Animal: Animal Group: Description of animal group: || Emperor Penguin Their scientific name is: Aptenodytes patagonicus Colony Bird || Observation Describe your animal (Colour, size, body parts) || Emperor Penguins swim and cover their eggs. Yellow Neck, black back, White Stomach and black feet and beak. Size: 45 in (115 cm) Weight: Up to 88 lbs (40 kg)
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 * __**Description**__

Distinctive features of the King penguin include a silvery-grey back with a blackish-brown head decorated with striking ear patches of bright golden-orange feathers. They are similar in appearance to the [|Emperor penguin] but can be identified by the orange coloring on their breasts, more slender bodies and longer bills. As are most penguins, males and females are monomorphic, meaning they are similar in both size and appearance with behavioral clues providing the best means of identification.

They swim for hours at a time in frigid ocean water. Many sit on nests incubating eggs as snow falls around them, and the Emperor Penguins lay eggs in the winter, incubating them on their feet, day after day, through the coldest winter on Earth.

Read more: [] || Describe how your animal behaves (moves, flies, runs) || my animal behaves My animal moves by sliding and waddling and when they are hungry they dive into the water and swim after fish. > > Due to the extended breeding cycle some birds can be found in the colony at any time of the year. During winter, adults leave their chicks unattended and may travel extensively before returning. > Stragglers have reached the Antarctic Peninsula, Mawson, Gough Island, South Africa, southern Australia (including Tasmania), the North and South Islands of New Zealand, as well as New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic islands. > Penguins are intensely social, breeding as well as living in large social colonies. > They are excellent swimmers, and they live as well, if not better, in water as they do on land. The King Penguin walks on land or ice, and smooth rocks. > In the snow, they move forward by sliding on their bellies. In the water, their legs and their tail (which is streamlined and shaped like a triangle) serve as a steering rudder; and with their flippers they propel themselves through the water. When diving deep repeatedly their body temperature drops in the water, and they playfully dive up and down until they have eaten enough. || [] || Where it lives || All penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere (south of the equator). They live in climates ranging from the warm tropics to the frigid Antarctic. These defenseless birds usually live on predator-free islands or on remote parts of a continent. Some penguins, like the Emperor Penguin, live on pack ice in Antarctica.
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 * Penguins have shiny, waterproof feathers that help keep their skin dry. They have more feathers than most other birds - about 70 feathers per square inch. Each year, penguins molt, losing their old feathers and growing new ones. Some penguins have a feathery crest like the Macaroni. penguin
 * **Unlike many other penguins, the King penguin runs with its feet as opposed to hopping while on land.**
 * **Unlike many other penguins, the King penguin runs with its feet as opposed to hopping while on land.**
 * **Unlike many other penguins, the King penguin runs with its feet as opposed to hopping while on land.**
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 * **__Habitat:__**

The breeding areas of King Penguins are restricted to sub-Antarctic islands where the temperatures rarely exceed 10°C. In winter, the adults probably travel south towards the Antarctic pack-ice. Their breeding colonies can usually rocky ground but there can be ice or snow, too, || What it eats How it eats || King penguins feed by deep water pursuit-diving, using their flippers to propel themselves to depths of several hundred feet. Dives may last 15 minutes or more. Their diet includes small fish and squid, krill, and plankton.
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 * **__Feeding Habits:__**

Penguins eat in the ocean. They eat fish, crustaceans (like krill, etc.), and || How does it have babies? How does it care for its babies? How long do they live? || Each year, close to midwinter, the adult females will return to the rookery where they where born. This journey is likely to involve a walk of 50 to 200 km over sea-ice, possibly is blizzard conditions. These rookeries, numbering only 35 in total, are distributed around the harsh coast of Antarctica. While most animals choose spring or summer to begin their breading cycle, the Emperor Penguins have developed a cycle that requires them to begin 'nesting' when temperatures can be as low as -45°C
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 * **__Breeding Habits:__**

King penguins breed on seven sub-Antarctic island groups with large populations on the Falkland Islands, Macquarie Islands, Heard Island, Iles Crozet and Marion island. They are not considered to be migratory. Despite their scientific name //'patagonica,'// there is no evidence that they ever lived in Patagonia. Kings have been exploited in the past, but thankfully their numbers have increased in several localities and their conservation status now seems secure.

Kings are unique in that they have an unusually long breeding season. At any one time chicks of various ages are present in the colonies as eggs are laid anytime from November through April. From courtship through hatching of the eggs to the fledging of the chick may take 14 months or more making annual breeding impossible. Like the Emperors, King penguins' eggs are incubated on the adults' feet and not in nests. Both parents share in the care of the egg which takes approximately five weeks to hatch. Incubating birds are basically immobile although they can shuffle along slowly to avoid lumbering [|Southern Elephant seals] which occasionally wander through the colonies. Once hatched, the dark brown downy chicks fast for long periods of time between meals while the adults are away feeding at sea. Chicks are reared right through the winter (huddling in 'creches' or nursery groups to keep warm) and only fledge the following summer. Early explorers erroneously thought King chicks to be a separate species from the adults calling them 'Woolly penguins.' Adults can rear a maximum of only two chicks every three years.

The Emperor Penguin Breeds during the Antarctic winter from March to December. Eggs and chicks are balanced on the feet to prevent them from coming into contact with the ice. No nests are built, which allows the colony to move around and huddle close together, providing some protection from the cold. The male is solely responsible for the two-month incubation of the egg during the heart of winter in almost continuous darkness. If the female has not returned by the time of hatching, the male is able to feed the chick for a short time with a “milk” secreted from the oesophagus. || [] [] || What does it do during the day and night? || Courtship starts in March and the female lays a single egg in mid-May - late autumn or early winter in that part of the world. While the female returns to the sea to replenish her supplies of fat, the egg is incubated by the male who endures a 40 to 60 day fast through the harsh winter cold and blizzards. The egg, carried on the bird's feet, is covered with a fold of skin to ward off the cold of the ice and the sub-zero air temperatures. During the Antarctic winter, when the sun never rises, Emperor Penguins must face the most severe weather in the world. They are protected by a very dense plumage and a thick layer of blubber. They also huddle together in their hundreds to conserve heat and form a wind break on the vast, exposed ice fields. || How has it changed over time in Antarctica? || The most dramatic changes are happening around the Antarctic Peninsula which is one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth. A recent review showed that over the last 61 years, 87 percent of glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula have retreated. The retreat began at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and, over time has moved southwards as temperatures have risen. || "Climate change is causing irrevocable damage to the ecology of the Antarctic. Rising temperatures means sea ice levels will drop dramatically, devastating the penguins' nesting and feeding grounds," said Rob Nicoll, head of WWF-Australia's Antarctic and Southern Oceans Initiative.
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 * **Threats:** || Climate change models forecast that a 2°C temperature rise – widely regarded as the threshold for dangerous climate change - could be a reality in less than 40 years, producing a strong reduction in the sea ice cover of the Southern Ocean. Many recent climate models forecast likely temperature rises in excess of this.

At sea, the key predators of King penguins are the [|Leopard seals] and [|Killer whales] who wait beneath the surface near the shore for unsuspecting birds. Opportunistic [|shore birds] such as: [|skuas], [|sheathbills] and [|Giant petrels] often raid the colonies on land to take eggs and young birds when unattended by adults. || [] || In the past, there has been some special concern for the King Penguin. They are now protected almost everywhere. Over the years, and especially in the early 1900s, king penguins were in great demand for their blubber, oil, and especially feathers. The result was a reduction in the range of the species, as they were completely exterminated in some areas. The king penguin has also been harmed by oil spills and hunters who are egg collectors. Much of this activity is now banned, and the populations are currently increasing
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 * **Other Facts:** || special concern.

This species is second largest in its genus, and the second largest of all the penguins; only the Emperor penguin is larger. ||
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