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| A Chinstrap Penguin guarding its barely visible chick |
There are between 17 and 20 species of Penguins in the world, depending on how scientists break down some subspecies. The Antarctic continent is home to only Emperor and Adélie, with an occasional Chinstrap. The Antarctic Peninsula and its islands host Emperor, King, Adélie, Chinstrap, Gentoo, Macaroni and Southern Rockhopper.
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| On this trip we saw four of these; Chart: Smithsonian |
Penguin habitats include oceans and coasts. They generally live on islands and remote continental regions with few land predators, where their inability to fly is not detrimental to their survival. They are adapted to living at sea, and some species spend months at a time at sea.
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| A raft of Gentoo Penguins |
Different species thrive in varying climates. While the Galápagos Penguins live on tropical islands at the Equator, Emperors are restricted to the pack ice and waters of Antarctica.
Other species live in South America, Australia, New Zealand, the Falklands and Africa. I saw African Penguins in 2017!
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| African Penguins, Boulders Beach, South Africa |
Primarily a bird of the Southern Hemisphere, only those in Galapagos can be found above (barely above) the Equator.
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| It is surprising that most Penguins do not live in Antarctica; Chart: Wikipedia Commons |
While on the Antarctic Peninsula, we saw the most plentiful species: Adélie, Chinstrap and Gentoo.
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| Adélie, Chinstrap and Gentoo Penguins |
And, no, there are no Polar Bears in Antarctica, so Polar Bears and Penguins NEVER cohabitate.
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| Stop the madness! |
When European explorers discovered what are today known as Penguins in the Southern Hemisphere, they noticed their similar appearance to the Great Auk of the Northern Hemisphere and used a synonym for Great Auk, Pingouin, to name them. Penguins are actually not Auks and not closely related to the Great Auk.
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| Left: Gentoo Penguins; Right: Great Auk; Illustration: CGTN |
Before I go on, I must mention that every time I saw one in Antarctica (which was often), an interview I saw on the Graham Norton Show popped into my head. It was about how Benedict Cumberbatch mispronounced Penguin repeatedly while narrating a documentary on ... you guessed it ... PENGUINS! Watch it here. And, then, let's learn more about Penwings!
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| He said what?????? |
The original Penguins lived around 66 million years ago in the general area of southern New Zealand and Byrd Land, Antarctica. At that time, those two areas were less than 930 miles apart rather than the 2,500 miles of today. While they were not as well-adapted to aquatic life as modern Penguins, the ancestors were generally flightless loon-like birds. They swam on the surface using mainly their feet and their short wings were already adapting to underwater locomotion and deep diving.
Over the next 20 million years, primitive Penguins spread to South America and were in the process of expanding into Atlantic waters. The sizes of the multiple evolutionary species varied greatly. Some were tiny and some large. Giant Penguins in New Zealand stood as tall as 5.9 feet.
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| Giant Penguins; Illustration: Smithsonian |
The very large Penguins disappeared around 25 million years ago as fish-eating toothed Whales took over their food sources. From then on, species were smaller and short-legged.
Today’s Penguins are superbly adapted to aquatic life. Their wings, which have the same general bone structure as flighted birds, have evolved to become flippers, useless for flight.
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| Chinstraps diving, not flying |
In the water, however, Penguins are astonishingly agile, swimming in a manner that looks similar to birds' flight in the air. Their body shape is fusiform (tapered at both ends) and streamlined, allowing them to slide smoothly through the water.
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| A Gentoo's torpedo-like body |
Some species can reach speeds up to 20 miles per hour. Watch some Gentoos here.
Although it is more energy efficient for Penguins to swim underwater, they must come to the surface to breathe. Many species “porpoise,” leaping in and out of the water, like Dolphins or Porpoises, sailing through the air for a second or two before diving back again.
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| I was surprised how often we saw this behavior |
Penguins porpoise to breathe while maintaining the high forward speed, to get away from predators or to survey their surroundings. Penguins often swim and feed in groups, but some may dive for prey alone.
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| This is the largest swimming group we saw |
Penguins vary in size and weight depending on the species, ranging from 10 inches to 3.5 feet tall. Their weight ranges from two to 88 pounds, which is dense for a bird. Penguins’ weight can vary significantly during the year, especially among species that must forego food to incubate chicks or that are actively feeding chicks with regurgitated food. All three types we saw are classified as "large."
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| An Adélie with a group of the largest Penguin, Emperors; Photo: Awesome Ocean |
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| Black back, white front for safety |
All Penguins are counter-shaded with black backs and wings and white fronts.
A predator, such as a Leopard Seal or an Orca, looking up from below has difficulty telling the difference between a white Penguin belly and the reflective water surface.
The dark plumage on their backs camouflages them from above. You see this in many animals, including Whales.
Penguin feathers are highly specialized. They are short, broad and closely spaced, which makes it difficult for water to penetrate close to the skin. Tufts of down on the closely spaced feather shafts trap a layer of air, serving as insulation to keep the Penguin warm in water where heat loss is much greater than in air. The feathers are stiff, providing a protective shell over the downy undercoat.
Because insulation is critical to their survival, Penguins take great care of their feathers.
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| They often preen three hours a day |
An oil-secreting "preen gland" at the base of a Penguin's tail dispenses water-repelling anti-microbial oil that the Penguin then spreads over its body. This makes them virtually waterproof.
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| A downy Adélie chick |
Baby Penguins have soft downy feathers, giving them a fluffy appearance.
Since down feathers are not waterproof, chicks remain in the rookery away from the water until they acquire their juvenile plumage (this also keeps them out of the way of water-based predators). Their parents must leave them to acquire food.
Adult plumage is acquired at about one year.
The air trapped in their plumage makes Penguins buoyant. This is why small birds don't usually dive deep; instead catching their prey near the surface in dives that normally last one or two minutes.
Larger Penguins can dive very deep. Emperors, the world's deepest-diving birds, can go down 1,800 feet while searching for food.
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| Of course we could see only shallow dives; Left photo: American Oceans |
On land, Penguins waddle and hop on their feet, using their wedge-shaped tails and short wings to maintain balance for their upright stance.
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| Chinstrap Penguins waddling and hopping |
The three species we saw are "brush-tailed Penguins," a reference to their very long, stiff tail feathers, which often sweep the ground as they walk.
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| Using that tail to stay upright on tricky terrain |
Their feet and claws are enormous – much, much larger than I had even realized. They need these big feet for stability on ice, slippery rocks and steep slopes.
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| Look at those dogs! |
Sometimes, they slide on their bellies across the snow while using their feet to propel and steer themselves, a movement called "tobogganing," which allows them to conserve energy while moving quickly.
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| The only tobogganing I caught was out-of-focus behind this Weddell Seal |
Penguins have average hearing, used by parents and chicks to locate one another in crowded colonies.
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| There is frequent, loud conversation in the rookeries |
Their eyes are adapted for underwater vision and are their primary means of locating prey and avoiding predators. Like most birds, they can see ultraviolet light.
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| Two Adélies with their distinctive white/blue-ringed eyes |
Penguins, even those that live in warmer climates, have a counter-current heat exchanger called the humeral plexus. The flippers of Penguins have at least three branches of the axillary artery, which allows cold blood to be heated by blood that has already been warmed and limits heat loss from the flippers.
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| Those flippers have multiple functions |
This system allows Penguins to efficiently use their body heat and explains why such small animals can survive in the extreme cold.
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| Gentoos on a bergy bit in the shadow of an iceberg |
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| They hunt in frigid waters |
They eat Krill, squid and fish, varying slightly among different species.
Having different food preferences reduces competition among species, allowing them to live and thrive in the same areas.
The smaller species of the Antarctic and the subantarctic primarily feed on Krill and squid. Species found farther north tend to eat fish. Adélie Penguins feed primarily on small Krill, while Chinstraps forage for large Krill.
With very fast metabolic rates, Penguins poop about every 20 minutes, or less.
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| Pooping on the run; Right photo: Ship Photographer Sheeren Mroueh |
Penguins are among the most social of all birds. All species are colonial, living in large groups. During the breeding season, they come ashore and nest in huge colonies called rookeries. Rookeries range in size from as few as 100 pairs for Gentoos to several hundred thousand in the case of King, Macaroni and Chinstrap Penguins.
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| Gentoo rookery at Neko Harbor |
To protect them from sea-faring predators and storm surges, rookeries are often high up on the tops of hills or cliffs. To get to snowbound rookies, Penguins create deep trails in the snow, referred to as "Penguin Highways."
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| Penguins moving along their Highways |
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| Lots of noise |
Such large numbers in one place combined with their frequent pooping results in large amounts of guano (AKA poop). Often tinted red or pink because of the large amount of Krill the eat, the guano tints the Penguins.
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| It washes off when they swim |
Due to long lifespans (averaging 20 years, although 40 years has been recorded), Penguins may take three to eight years to reach sexual maturity.
While the breeding season differs from species to species, most have an annual breeding season from spring through summer.
Penguins form monogamous pairs for a breeding season (although females may have multiple partners). The rate the same pair re-couples varies drastically.
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| Male Gentoos woo females with nesting stones; Photo: Sheeren Mroueh |
Penguins meet at nesting sites to breed and lay their eggs and most species tend to be faithful to the same rookeries and return each year.
Males tend to arrive first to establish and defend their nesting sites. Nesting habitats vary by species and rookeries sometimes consist of multiple species.
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| Gentoo with egg; Photo: Sheeren Mroueh |
The egg color ranges from white to bluish or greenish and the shape varies among species.
With the exception of the Emperor Penguin, where the male does it all, Penguins share the incubation duties. Incubation shifts can last days and even weeks as one member of the pair feeds at sea. The parent that is incubating does not eat and doesn't even leave to defecate but instead projects feces away from the nest.
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| Chinstraps tending their young: Photo: Sheeren Mroueh |
Penguin eggs are smaller than any other bird species when compared proportionally to the weight of the parent birds. The relatively thick shell comprises from 10-16 percent of the weight of the egg to reduce the effects of dehydration and to minimize the risk of breakage in an “adverse” (read: rocky or icy) nesting environment.
After the chicks hatch, the adults feed them by regurgitating food directly down their throats.
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| An Adélie chick begs and then gets fed |
Penguins can tolerate drinking saltwater and eating foods with high sodium content, but this amount of salt would be dangerous for their chicks. So, adults' metabolism can alter ion concentrations while food is in their stomachs.
They then expel the extracted sodium and potassium ions in their poop and from specially constructed nasal glands, often resulting in dripping or crusty noses. Then, the food is safe to regurgitate for their offspring.
Penguins vocalize and perform physical behaviors called "displays" to communicate nesting territories and mating information. They have been observed using displays in partner and chick recognition, as well as in defense against intruders.
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| They appear to have a lot to say |
Penguins, especially eggs and fledglings, are preyed upon by other birds including Skuas, Petrels, Sheathbills and Gulls.
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| A Skua with a Gentoo chick |
During the age of early human exploration, imported sled dogs preyed upon Penguins, but dogs have long since been banned from the continent. Adult Penguins are at risk at sea from predators including Sharks, Orcas and Leopard Seals. The mortality rate among the young is 50 percent or higher.
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| Leopard Seal snags a Gentoo Penguin; Photo: Daily Mirror |
The majority of living Penguin species have declining populations. According to the IUCN Red List, several species are listed as "Endangered," including the African, Northern Rockhopper and Galàpagos. Several more are listed as "Vulnerable," including Southern Rockhopper, Snares, Humboldt and Macaroni. Others are listed as "Near Threatened" or "Least Concern."
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| The Adélie faces danger |
Major human threats include overfishing, accidental entrapment in fishing nets, hunting and pollution. According to WWF, commercial fishing in the Southern Ocean region can increase competition among Penguin species, as the number of available fish to eat declines.
All species are legally protected from hunting and egg collecting by the Antarctic Treaty.
As I mentioned, we saw three species on the Antarctic Peninsula, two of which I introduced in my last post.
Chinstrap
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| Four Chinstraps enjoying a sunny day |
The first Penguins we saw were Chinstraps swimming by the boat as we approached Deception Island.
The Chinstrap’s name has an obvious source: the narrow black band under its head that makes it look like it is wearing a black helmet. Standing 27 to 30 inches tall and weighing 7.1 to 11.7 lbs., its short, stumpy legs give it a distinct waddle when it walks. Males are bigger than females.
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| Easy to identify |
Chinstrap Penguins have a circumpolar distribution. They breed in Antarctica, Argentina, Bouvet Island, Chile, the French Southern Territories and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Vagrant individuals have been found in New Zealand, the islands of Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha and South Africa. We saw them in multiple locations on our trip.
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| They swim up to 50 miles offshore each day to hunt |
Like most Antarctic Penguins, the Chinstrap’s major predator is the Leopard Seal, which kills from 5 to 20 percent of the population every year.
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| Adult with chicks; Photo: Wikipedia Commons |
Chinstraps build circular stone nests and lay two eggs, which are incubated by both the male and the female for shifts of six days each. The chicks hatch after around 37 days and have fluffy grey backs and white fronts. The chicks stay in the nest for 20 to 30 days before they go to join other chicks in a nursery called a crèche. At around 50 to 60 days old, they molt, grow adult feathers and go to sea.
Chinstrap Penguins have a loud, hoarse barking and braying call and are generally considered to be the most aggressive and ill-tempered Penguin. But, the ones we saw seemed less aggressive than the noisy Gentoos that I will talk about next.
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| One has something to say |
Chinstrap Penguins microsleep; resting half of their brains at a time about 10,000 times a day for four seconds at a time. They accumulate more than 11 hours of sleep for each brain hemisphere daily.
In 2018, the IUCN estimated that the population of Chinstrap Penguins was around 8 million. Although they are believed to be decreasing overall, their population is not severely fragmented and in many sites is increasing or stable. The species is classified as “Least Concern” as of 2016, due to its large range and population.
Gentoo
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| Resting on the beach |
We also saw our first Gentoo Penguins at Deception Island and, as you will see later, we saw many more in multiple locations. While the Chinstrap has a raucous call, nothing beats the Gentoo, which sounds exactly like a braying Donkey.
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| There's always one with its mouth open |
On the boat, they told us that the name comes from a Spanish term for Donkey, but I was not able to find evidence of this. Rather, I read that the name comes from an Anglo-Indian term to distinguish Hindus from Muslims because the white patch on the bird's head was thought to resemble a turban.
The name may have originated from the Portuguese gentio ("pagan, gentile"). Or, it could be a variation of another name for this bird, "Johnny Penguin," (Juanito in Spanish). The "Johnny Rook" (a colloquial name for Argentina’s Striated Caracara), is likely named after the Johnny Penguin, upon which it preys. No one knows.
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| Actually, the stripe looks more like a bow or, to modern eyes, a pair of headphones |
The most colorful Penguin we saw, the Gentoo has a lipstick-orange bill unlike any other Penguin. These two features make the Gentoo one of the easiest species to identify when seen swimming – and we saw them swimming a lot. Watch here.
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| A group of Penguins in the water is a raft |
Gentoo Penguins are the fastest underwater birds in the world, capable of reaching speeds up 22 miles per hour while searching for food or escaping from predators.
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| Look at 'em go! |
They are also able to dive to depths of about 560 to 660 feet.
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| Going for a swim |
These Penguins are the third-largest species, behind Emperor and King, standing up to 35 inches tall and weighing as much as 19 lbs. Males are very slightly larger than females, but the difference is hard to discern.
Rarely seen away from well-known rookery sites, Gentoos nest in small colonies. We saw multiple colonies and many, many of these entertaining birds.
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| A colony by a glacier |
Gentoos breed monogamously and infidelity is typically punished with banishment from the colony. Nests are usually made from a roughly circular pile of stones. They jealously guard the stones, often resulting in noisy disputes and physical attacks between individuals.
Two eggs are laid and parents share incubation, changing duty daily.
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| A chick hovering over an egg; Photo: Sheeren Mroueh |
The eggs hatch after 34 to 36 days. The chicks remain in the nests for around 30 days before joining other chicks in the colony and forming crèches. The chicks molt into subadult plumage and go out to sea at around 80 to 100 days.
Adélie
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| Two Adélie Penguins with chicks |
I have not yet announced our first Adélie Penguin sighting because we didn’t see any until we had traveled much farther south.
Unlike its cousins the Gentoo and Chinstrap, the Adélie lives along the entire coast of continental Antarctica as well as on the Antarctic Peninsula. Although it is not found outside of Antarctica, it is still the most widespread Penguin species, and, along with the Emperor Penguin, the most southerly.
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| An Adélie in the snow |
It is named after Adélie Land, which is, in turn, named for Adèle Dumont d'Urville, who was married to French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville, who first discovered this Penguin in 1840.
A mid-sized bird, Adélie Penguins measure about 28 inches tall and can weigh up to 18 lbs. Although the sexes look the same, females have shorter wings and beaks and weigh significantly less.
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| Looks like a runway show |
The adult is black on the head, throat and upper parts, with snowy white underparts. It has a conspicuous white eye ring around a black iris. The beak is largely covered with black feathers, leaving only the tip exposed; this is primarily black, though it can show indistinct reddish-brown markings.
The upper surface of the wing is black with a white trailing edge, while the underside is white with a narrow black leading edge and a small black tip. The legs and feet, mostly unfeathered, are pinkish.
Adélie Penguins breed from October to February in colonies are scattered along Antarctica's coasts and on a number of sub-Antarctic islands. They are much less common north of the 60°S, but have occurred as vagrants in Australia, New Zealand and southern South America. Individual colonies can vary dramatically in size, some having as many as a half million birds.
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| Social interaction in a breeding colony |
During the breeding season, they need bare, rocky ground on which to build their stone nests. They will not nest on ice and choose areas where wind or the angle of the sun (or both) helps to keep snow drifts from accumulating. At the start of the breeding seasons, colony sites may be up to 60 miles from open water, but the distance decreases as summer progresses and the pack ice breaks up.
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| Nesting Adélies |
They lay two eggs, which they incubate for 32 to 34 days by the parents taking turns (shifts typically last for 12 days). The chicks remain in the nest for 22 days before joining crèches. Newly hatched chicks are covered in silvery-grey down feathers that are typically darker on the head, although some birds are much darker overall. Within 10 days, the chick molts into another set of down feathers, this time all dark smoky-brownish-grey.
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| Parents and chicks |
Once they have molted a third time, seven to nine weeks after hatching, the immature birds are similar to adults but tend to be smaller with a bluer tinge to their upper parts and white (rather than black) chins and throats. They lack the full white eye ring of the adult until they are at least a year old.
Once they have finished breeding, around March, adult Adélie Penguins typically move to ice floes or ice shelves to molt, although some remain onshore. During winter, they remain in the pack ice zone, with most moving north to reach areas where there is visible light for at least part of the day (north of roughly 73°S). While some remain near their breeding colonies, others may move hundreds of miles away. They are known to forage in winter in areas with up to 80 percent pack ice cover, as long as there are some breaks in the ice.
Despite their size, Adélie Penguins are known for their bold and boisterous personality and will challenge other animals, including predators far larger than they are.
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| Teaching the youngsters to sing |
Adélie Penguins usually swim at around five miles per hour and are able to leap some 10 feet out of the water to land on rocks or ice. These skills are important because, like all Penguins, they get their food from the sea.
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| Contemplating a swim |
Magellanic
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| Magellanic Penguin; Photo: Far South Expeditions |
The fourth variety of Penguin that I saw (I don’t think Scott saw them) were Magellanic Penguins living along the Beagle Channel. Because of our afternoon departure, shipboard activities and, quite frankly, my ignorance, I didn’t even know to look for them on the way out. I did coming back and spotted some on a distant (very distant) beach.
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| Sadly, my best view |
Fortunately, I won’t have to go all the way back to Antarctica to see them someday. I would, though. Gladly.
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| Map: PinguinsInfo |
They sometimes migrate to Brazil and Uruguay and vagrants have been found in El Salvador, the Avian Island in Antarctica, Australia and New Zealand.
The Magellanic Penguin was named after Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who spotted the birds in 1520. The species is listed as being of "Least Concern" by the IUCN.
They are medium-sized, growing up to 30 inches tall and weighing up to 14.3 lbs. Males are larger than the females.
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| Magellanic Penguin; Photo: NatureTrek |
Adults have two black bands between the head and the breast, with the lower band shaped in an inverted horseshoe. The head is black with a broad white border that runs from behind the eye, around the black ear-coverts and chin, and joins at the throat.
Adults can regularly dive to depths of between 100 and 160 feet to forage for prey. They travel in large groups when hunting for food.
Magellanic Penguins mate with the same partner year after year. The male reclaims his burrow from the previous year and waits to reconnect with his female partner. The females are able to recognize their mates through their call.
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| In the burrow; Photo: Britannica |
Once the breeding season is complete, Magellanic Penguins migrate north for the winter, where they feed in waters offshore from Peru and Brazil.
Magellanic Penguins can live up to 25 years in the wild and the oldest confirmed Penguin was a male Magellanic at the San Francisco Zoo that died in 2022 at the age of 40.
Magellanic Penguin populations face various pressures, including exposure to reported and unreported oil spills, changes in prey availability and climate change. Natural predation occurs by Sea Lions, Giant Petrels and Leopard Seals, which prey on the chicks. The adult’s major predator, however, is the Puma.
Human interactions can also stress chicks. Newly hatched chicks visited by tourists show elevated levels of corticosterone in their blood, which detrimental to the development of muscle strength, growth and immune function.
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| The Beagle Channel colony is a target for tourists |
Climate change has displaced fish populations, causing some Magellanic penguins to swim an extra 25 miles further from their nests to catch fish. Some younger Penguins are now moving their breeding colonies north to be closer to fish, but, in some cases, this is putting them on private, unprotected lands.
Increased frequency of extreme events associated with climate change, such as storms, drought, extreme temperatures and wildfires, decreases reproductive rates.
That's it!
So, those are the Penguins we saw. Now, let’s get back to the actual trip … in my next post,
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| Let's go! |
Trip date: December 30, 2023 - January 12, 2024
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