Happy Feet Pair Off – King Penguins Flock to Shore
Welcome back!
One of the most breathtaking phenomena in nature to behold is the mating season for thousands of King Penguins at St Andrew’s bay on the island of South Georgia. More than 10,000 penguins were recently captured on film as they flocked to shore in preparation to breed.
10,000 King Penguins stand shoulder to shoulder on a remote island
near Antarctica preparing to breed. Photo Daily Mail
The 100,000 plus colony of the 3 foot (90 centimeters) tall penguins herd together on the Atlantic island near Antarctica in their annual mating ritual to lay their eggs in late November, which peaks around mid-December.
Rather than building nests, the male and female take turns to incubate one single egg on their feet over a period of 2 months. The male takes on the first shift for a 2-week period, and then the female does the same, then take turns every 3 to 4 days thereafter — all the while standing firmly in place merely inches apart.
Changing of the guard of the eggs
The chicks take 14 to16 months before they’re ready to go to sea, and normally only breed after they reach 4 years of age.
King Penguins breed on the sub Antarctic islands at the northern reaches of Antarctica, as well as Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, and other temperate islands of the region. Population is estimated to be 2.23 million pairs and increasing.
These creatures are not strictly ‘monogamous’ — only 19% of King Penguins take up with the same mating partner the following year.
They’re the second largest species of penguin weighing 24 to 35 pounds (11 to 16 kilos), second only to the Emperor Penguin.
Mating King Penguins
Breeding isn’t the only thing that drives King Penguins to land — at specific times of the year they come to shore for about 12 days to molt their vibrant plumage for a new ‘suit’, to the point that they in the buff stand virtually featherless. Their feathers wear out, thus losing their insulating and waterproof properties which need to be replaced.
Their new feathers slowly emerge and they’re ready to dive the deep icy waters after 30 days.
King penguins have four layers of feathering — the outer layer is oiled and waterproof, while the inner three layers are down feathers, for a highly effective insulation. Chicks are born without the oily outer layer, therefore unable to fish until maturity.
A little known fact — penguins including the King penguin have an organ above their eyes that converts seawater to fresh water.
Sources: Daily Mail and Wikipedia
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The last sentence:
A little known fact — penguins including the King penguin have an organ above their eyes that converts seawater to fresh water….
Is by far the most interesting here. If only humans could learn how this is done….
see what I mean in my last post…
this post is a good reminder for me to watch Happy Feet the movie….have been meaning to for a while now…..
They are so cute. So cute I say. I want to have one home!
Thanks TorAa, I’ll swing by as soon as I can
I finally got the chance to watch Happy Feet on TV a couple days ago Kim
So I no longer had to steal a friend’s kid to come to the movies as an excuse to watch it, haha.
I’m with you, I find penguins to be one of the cutest creatures going Mig
Really sweet animals
Adorable, Mad
oh yeah, I’ve been thinking of watching Happy Feet for sometime too! Interesting article Deb! Dugg it
Thanks Pearl
I love penguins sooooooooooo much!!!
They’re one of my favorite creatures as well, Kelsy
wicked!!!!!!!
Soooooo many Penguins o-o
sosososososososoosososososososososo many eggs