Wildlife
King penguins are extraordinary parents. While one parent is guarding the chick, the other makes a trip of up to 400km (250 miles) in search of food. When the young are old enough, they are left with other juveniles so both parents can search for food. The adults return to the sea during the winter, leaving the chicks alone, and they are rarely fed during this time.
Scientific name: Aptenodytes patagonicus
Rank: Species
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Penguin spa
A mud bath brings a little light relief to the hot penguin chicks.
A mud bath brings a little light relief to the hot penguin chicks.
Hot sun
Penguins need to cool off in the hot days of the southern summer.
Penguins need to cool off in the hot days of the southern summer.
Penguins dodge beachmasters
King penguins move quickly to avoid a four tonne seal.
When a four tonne elephant seal charges across a crowded beach, king penguins must get their little legs moving at top speed to get out of the way.
Alone in a crowd
A king penguin knows its chick's voice among the masses.
A king penguin knows its chick's voice among the masses.
Seals hunting penguins
Penguins run the gauntlet of ferocious fur seals to reach their hungry chicks.
Cameraman Ian McCarthy hitched a three-week ride on a tuna trawler through the notorious Roaring Forties to reach the obscure island where this behaviour had been reported. He and his camera equipment had to be sterilised to avoid contaminating the island. For the next four weeks, he braved Antarctic gales and the highly aggressive bull fur seals to capture this unique behaviour.
The King penguin can be found in a number of locations including: Antarctica. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
The following habitats are found across the King penguin distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Least Concern
Year assessed: 2009
Classified by: IUCN 3.1
The King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) is the second largest species of penguin at about 11 to 16 kg (24 to 35 lb), second only to the Emperor Penguin. There are two subspecies—A. p. patagonicus and A. p. halli; patagonicus is found in the South Atlantic and halli elsewhere.
King Penguins eat small fish, mainly lanternfish, and squid and rely less than most Southern Ocean predators on krill and other crustaceans. On foraging trips they repeatedly dive to over 100 metres (330 ft), and have been recorded at depths greater than 300 metres (980 ft).
King Penguins breed on the subantarctic islands at the northern reaches of Antarctica, South Georgia, and other temperate islands of the region. The total population is estimated to be 2.23 million pairs and is increasing.
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Coastal
Intertidal zone
Shallow seas
Open ocean
Helpless young
Adapted to swimming
Carnivorous
Colonial
Courtship display
Acoustic communication
Monogamous
Moulting
Nomadic
Egg layer
Parental investment
Social
Cold tolerant
Visual communication