Royal penguin

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Royal penguin
RoyalPenguins2.JPG
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Sphenisciformes
Family: Spheniscidae
Genus: Eudyptes
Species:
E. schlegeli
Binomial name
Eudyptes schlegeli
Finsch, 1876
Eudyptes schlegeli distribution (nesting).png
Distribution royal penguin

The royal penguin (Eudyptes schlegeli) is a species of penguin, which can be found only on the sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island and adjacent islands. [2] The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies the royal penguin as Least Concern. [1] The scientific name commemorates the German zoologist Hermann Schlegel.

Contents

Description

Royal penguin head Royal Penguin FAce.jpg
Royal penguin head

There was some controversy over whether royal penguins are a subspecies of macaroni penguins. [2] Individuals of the two groups have been known to interbreed, though this is a relatively rare occurrence. Indeed, other penguins have been known to form mixed-species pairs in the wild.

They inhabit the waters surrounding Antarctica. Royals look very much like macaroni penguins, but have a white face and chin instead of the macaronis' black visage. They are 65–76 cm (26–30 in) long and weigh 5–6 kg (11–13 lb). [2] [3] [4] Males are larger than females. [5] Royal penguins breed only on Macquarie Island and adjacent islands. [2] Like other penguins, they spend much of their time at sea, where they are assumed to be pelagic. [2]

Breeding

Royal penguins nest on beaches or on bare areas on slopes covered with vegetation. Like most seabirds they are colonial, nesting in scrapes on the ground up to a mile inland.[ citation needed ] The breeding season begins in September with laying following in October. [2] Though royals typically lay two eggs, only one usually survives. The egg is kept warm by both parents for around 35 days. This is done by rotating 12-day shifts. After hatching, the male cares for the chick for 2 to 3 weeks, when the female returns with food for both of them. If the female is delayed or fails to return to the colony, the chick will die. At about one month old, the chicks begin to group together for warmth and safety. Both parents continue to feed chicks two to three times a day. When the chicks are just over two months old, they will have grown their adult plumage and will leave the colony to go to sea to feed on their own.[ citation needed ]

It is common for the mother of multiple eggs to abandon their first egg only a day before their second egg arrives. Due to this abandonment the first egg has half the chance of hatching as the second egg that was kept. The causes of this behaviour are still unclear. [6]

Diet

Royal penguins fighting on Macquarie Island Royal penguins arguing.jpg
Royal penguins fighting on Macquarie Island

Royal penguins feed on krill, small fish, and small amounts of squid. [2]

During breeding season, royal penguins will hunt in localised areas in conjunction to neighbouring colonies. This implies a cohabitation with other colonies by sectoring off fishing areas for certain colonies, nearly eliminating resource competition. [7]

Threats

Royal penguins as a species are classified as Least Concern by the IUCN, with high risk of endangerment in the wild. [1] The Royal Penguin is not listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. [2]

Historically they were hunted for their oil; between 1870 and 1919 the government of Tasmania issuing licences for hunting them, with an average of 150,000 penguins (both royal and king) being taken each year. At the peak of the industry in 1905, the plant established on Macquarie Island was processing 2000 penguins at a time, with each penguin yielding about half a litre of oil. [2] [8]

Since the end of penguin hunting on Macquarie the numbers have climbed to 850,000 pairs. Before hunting started, there were three million penguins on the island (both royal and king). [8]

Modern threats to the royal penguin include introduced predators such as rats (and formerly cats but they were eradicated from Macquarie Island recently), discarded plastic, pollution, and decreased food supply due to commercial fishing. [2]

Sound of rookery at Hurd Point

Related Research Articles

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Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae of the order Sphenisciformes. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapted for life in the ocean water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage and flippers for swimming. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid and other forms of sea life which they catch with their bills and swallow whole while swimming. A penguin has a spiny tongue and powerful jaws to grip slippery prey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adélie penguin</span> Species of bird

The Adélie penguin is a species of penguin common along the entire coast of the Antarctic continent, which is the only place where it is found. It is the most widespread penguin species, and, along with the emperor penguin, is the most southerly distributed of all penguins. It is named after Adélie Land, 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. Adélie penguins obtain their food by both predation and foraging, with a diet of mainly krill and fish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emperor penguin</span> Large flightless seabird endemic to Antarctica

The emperor penguin is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching 100 cm (39 in) in length and weighing from 22 to 45 kg. Feathers of the head and back are black and sharply delineated from the white belly, pale-yellow breast and bright-yellow ear patches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gentoo penguin</span> Species of bird

The gentoo penguin is a penguin species in the genus Pygoscelis, most closely related to the Adélie penguin and the chinstrap penguin. The earliest scientific description was made in 1781 by Johann Reinhold Forster with a type locality in the Falkland Islands. The species calls in a variety of ways, but the most frequently heard is a loud trumpeting, which the bird emits with its head thrown back.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern rockhopper penguin</span> Species of bird

The southern rockhopper penguin is a species of rockhopper penguin, that is sometimes considered distinct from the northern rockhopper penguin. It occurs in subantarctic waters of the western Pacific and Indian Oceans, as well as around the southern coasts of South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King penguin</span> Species of bird

The king penguin is the second largest species of penguin, smaller, but somewhat similar in appearance to the emperor penguin. There are two subspecies, A. p. patagonicus and A. p. halli; patagonicus is found in the South Atlantic and halli in the South Indian Ocean and at Macquarie Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macaroni penguin</span> Species of bird

The macaroni penguin is a species of penguin found from the Subantarctic to the Antarctic Peninsula. One of six species of crested penguin, it is very closely related to the royal penguin, and some authorities consider the two to be a single species. It bears a distinctive yellow crest that resembles macaroni, from which its name is derived. Its face and upperparts are black and sharply delineated from the white underparts. Adults weigh on average 5.5 kg (12 lb) and are 70 cm (28 in) in length. The male and female are similar in appearance; the male is slightly larger and stronger with a relatively larger bill. Like all penguins, it is flightless, with a streamlined body and wings stiffened and flattened into flippers for a marine lifestyle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snares penguin</span> Species of bird

The Snares penguin, also known as the Snares crested penguin and the Snares Islands penguin, is a penguin from New Zealand. The species breeds on the Snares Islands, a group of islands off the southern coast of the South Island. It is a yellow-crested penguin, with a size of 50–70 cm (19.5–27.5 in) and a weight of 2.5–4 kg (5.5–8.8 lb). It has dark blue-black upper parts and white underparts. It has a bright yellow eyebrow-stripe which extends over the eye to form a drooping, bushy crest. It has bare pink skin at the base of its large red-brown bill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiordland penguin</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crested penguin</span> Genus of birds

Eudyptes is a genus of penguins whose members are collectively called crested penguins. The exact number of species in the genus varies between four and seven depending on the authority, and a Chatham Islands species became extinct in recent centuries. All are black and white penguins with yellow crests, red bills and eyes, and are found on Subantarctic islands in the world's southern oceans. All lay two eggs, but raise only one young per breeding season; the first egg laid is substantially smaller than the second.

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The rockhopper penguins are three closely related taxa of crested penguins that have been traditionally treated as a single species and are sometimes split into three species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antarctic tern</span> Species of bird

The Antarctic tern is a seabird in the family Laridae. It ranges throughout the southern oceans and is found on small islands around Antarctica as well as on the shores of the mainland. Its diet consists primarily of small fish and crustaceans. It is very similar in appearance to the closely related Arctic tern, but it is stockier, and it is in its breeding plumage in the southern summer, when the Arctic tern has shed old feathers to get its non-breeding plumage. The Antarctic tern does not migrate like the Arctic tern does, but it can still be found on a very large range. This tern species is actually more closely related to the South American tern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue-throated bee-eater</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macquarie shag</span> Species of cormorant

The Macquarie shag, Macquarie Island shag or Macquarie Island cormorant, is a marine cormorant native to Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean, about halfway between Australia and Antarctica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Indian Ocean Islands tundra</span> Ecoregion of several subantarctic islands in the southern Indian Ocean

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern rockhopper penguin</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern rockhopper penguin</span> Subspecies of bird

The eastern rockhopper penguin, also known as the tawaki piki toka, is a crested penguin with yellow crest feathers. It is a subspecies of the southern rockhopper penguin found in subantarctic regions and the Indian Ocean. It is one of the smallest crested penguins and has distinctive pink margins around its bill.

References

  1. 1 2 3 BirdLife International (2022). "Eudyptes schlegeli". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2022: e.T22697797A210894343. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Eudyptes schlegeli — Royal Penguin". Species Profile and Threats Database. Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. 2024. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  3. "Royal Penguin". Penguinspirit. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012.
  4. "Royal Penguins". Penguins Around The World. Archived from the original on 9 January 2013.
  5. "Royal penguin – Australian Antarctic Program". www.antarctica.gov.au. 2018-07-24. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
  6. St Clair, Colleen Cassady; Waas, Joseph R.; St Clair, Robert C.; Boag, Peter T. (1995-01-01). "Unfit mothers? Maternal infanticide in royal penguins". Animal Behaviour. 50 (5): 1177–1185. doi:10.1016/0003-3472(95)80034-4. ISSN   0003-3472. S2CID   53187878.
  7. Hull, C. L. (April 1999). "Comparison of the diets of breeding royal ( Eudyptes schlegeli ) and rockhopper ( Eudyptes chrysocome ) penguins on Macquarie Island over three years". Journal of Zoology. 247 (4): 507–529. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1999.tb01013.x. ISSN   0952-8369.
  8. 1 2 "Macquarie Island Commonwealth Marine Reserve". Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. 29 June 2011. Archived from the original on 28 October 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2013.

Further reading