King Penguin
Aptenodytes patagonicus
The emperor's slimmer, brighter cousin — and it takes more than a year to raise one chick.
King penguins look like emperors in bolder colours: slimmer, with bright orange ear patches that run in a thin strip down to an orange chest. They stand 85–95 cm tall and breed on sub-Antarctic islands, where raising a single chick takes more than a year.
On the conservation status
Doing well: about 1.1 million pairs breed each year, and numbers have been growing in most places, though not at the northern edge of their range.
- Height
- 85–95 cm
- Weight
- 8–15 kg, depending on the season
- Diet
- Lanternfish, and more squid in winter
- Incubation
- About 54 days, on the feet
- Breeding cycle
- 13–16 months
- Population
- About 1.1 million pairs breed each year
The good stuff.
No nest needed
King penguins don't build nests. Like emperors, they balance their egg on their feet, keeping it warm for about 54 days until it hatches.
Parenting takes more than a year
One breeding cycle, including the moult beforehand, takes 13 to 16 months, and chicks need more than a year before they can leave. So pairs usually do best breeding every second year.
How to tell a king from an emperor
Kings are thinner, their flippers are bigger for their size, and their orange ear patches run in a thin strip down to the chest.
Lanternfish lovers
In the breeding season they mainly eat lanternfish. In winter they switch to more squid.
Huge colonies
The biggest colonies, on South Georgia and the Crozet Islands, each hold several hundred thousand breeding pairs.
A shifting food supply
Kings feed at a boundary in the ocean called the Antarctic Polar Front. As the climate warms it's expected to move south, which would mean much longer trips to find food for some colonies.
Wait, really?
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Their weight swings through the year: 10–15 kg at the start of breeding, down to 8–11 kg by the end.
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There are two subspecies, and a small colony on the Falkland Islands is still growing.
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Helicopters flying low over a colony can make some pairs fail to breed, or move somewhere else.
What it sounds like
Loud, trumpeting calls. Every bird's is different, which is how partners and chicks find each other in a crowded colony.
We haven't found a recording we're allowed to share yet, so for now this one is a description.
Where you might see one
South Georgia, the Crozet Islands and the Falkland Islands.
The trouble
- Warming seas pushing their feeding grounds farther away
- Disturbance from helicopters and new research stations
- Oil spills, and possible future fishing for the lanternfish they eat
One real thing
Kings need a cold, food-rich Southern Ocean. Cutting carbon, and keeping new fisheries away from the fish they eat, both help.
More ways to help