If one parent is absent too long, the other will leave the egg, resulting in the rapid death of the unborn chick if it comes into contact with frozen ground. They will maintain this shift change routine for 55 days, until the egg hatches. They then return to the sea, where they will spend 3 weeks feeding before returning to the island to lay and care for the egg.Īfter laying the egg, the mother incubates it on her feet, covering it with her brood bag for between 6 and 18 days, at which time she takes turns with the male to go hunting. Males and females try to attract a mate with calls before initiating a courtship ritual in which they both bow, stretch their necks, and rub their necks.Īfter this ritual, the female will lie on her belly for the male to copulate with her. King penguins are social animals and, when they are not foraging in the sea, they live in huge colonies of several thousand pairs.īetween September and November, king penguins come ashore to change plumage and mate. Although the king penguin is not in danger due to its current high population, there are already non-governmental organizations that propose to maintain it by creating marine reserves around its habitat and limiting fishing in those areas.

Penguins also have trouble finding food in areas where commercial fishing is more widespread. Also, ocean warming could change the flow of ocean currents. This is due to climate change, which is likely to affect the distribution of the species it feeds on around the islands where it breeds. The species is not threatened, although forecasts point to a rapid decline in its population over the next few decades. They are the second largest penguin species, only behind the emperor penguin. Their height ranges from 70 to 100 cm, and the weight of king penguins is between 9 and 14 kg. Its plumage is dark gray on the back and fins white on the chest and abdomen, and yellow in the neck area, and its head is black with bright orange spots on the cheeks of the same color as the strip that runs through its beak. The king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus patagonicus) is a large species of seabird that inhabits the Antarctic Ocean and breeds on subantarctic islands such as the Falklands and South Georgia.

The King Penguin ( Aptenodytes patagonicus patagonicus) is a large Antarctic bird featured in the Aquatic Pack DLC for Planet Zoo.

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