Wednesday 15 May
Guest Blog: Join Our SOS! Campaign to Help Polar Bears with Polar Bears International

| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Aves |
| Order | Sphenisciformes |
| Family | Spheniscidae |
| Genus | Eudyptes (1) |
Royal penguins differ from the other crested penguins by having white or pale grey faces and chins (3). They have black crowns, backs and flippers flecked with white; short, stubby orange bills and sulphur-yellow crests above the eyes that join at the top of the head (4). Female birds are slightly smaller than the males, but otherwise, the sexes are similar (5). Royal penguins are sometimes confused with the Macaroni penguin (black chin and face), and some authorities consider the Royal a subspecies of the Macaroni (3).
The Royal penguins’ breeding season extends from September to March and starts with the male birds coming ashore on Macquarie Island to build their nests, which are lined with grass and stones (5). The females arrive a couple of weeks later and courtship takes place. Males swing their heads up and down and call to encourage the females to become receptive to mating (5). Eventually, two eggs are laid at the end of October, the second egg being the only one that is usually incubated (5).
Royal penguins are monogamous and often form large colonies of up to 500,000 birds (5), together with the closely related rockhopper penguins. The nests are usually placed a few hundred metres from the sea and the birds make access routes through the tussock grass (4). Incubation lasts from 30-40 days (5), after which the male guards the chick for up to three weeks while the female provides food (4) (5). After this period, the demands of the chick make it necessary for both parents to collect food, and the chicks usually gather together in small crèches (4).
Royal penguins feed largely on krill, small shrimp-like crustaceans, the rest of their diet comprising fish and squid. The parent birds regurgitate partially-digested food from their stomachs to feed their growing youngster (2). When it reaches some 70 days old, the chick will have fledged and can begin to fend for itself. It becomes sexually mature at one year (5).
TopRoyal penguins are migratory birds and outside of the breeding season are believed to spend their time in the southern seas between Australia and Antarctica. Their main breeding site is on Macquarie Island, situated roughly half-way between Tasmania and Antarctica, and managed by the Australian state of Tasmania (6). However, they were also recorded in the past as breeding in smaller numbers on New Zealand’s South Island and Campbell Island (4).
See this species on Google Earth.
TopThe most important land habitat for the Royal penguin is Macquarie Island, which is dotted with rocks, tussock grass and small shrubs. The birds spend about seven months of the year in the coastal waters around this island (6).
TopClassified as Vulnerable (VU A1be+2be, C1) on the IUCN Red List 2003 (1)
TopOnce the subject of a lucrative oil industry in the latter part of the 19th century, Royal penguins are now protected at their breeding sites (5). The main threats come from south polar skuas, Stercorarius maccormicki, which take both eggs and unprotected young (4). There is an additional risk from the fact that as the birds’ breeding range is so restricted, a natural or man-made disaster could easily wipe out this species (5).
TopThe current world population of the Royal penguin is believed to be stable at around 850,000 pairs (2) (5). There are a number of studies taking place to discover more about the migratory habits of the bird, and their main breeding site, Macquarie Island, enjoys protected status from the Tasmanian government.
TopThis information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact:
arkive@wildscreen.org.uk
More »Related species
This species is featured in:
This species is affected by global climate
change. To learn about climate change
and the species that are affected,
visit our climate change pages.
Image credit
© Fred Olivier / naturepl.com
Nature Picture Library
5a Great George Street
Bristol
BS1 5RR
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 117 911 4675
Fax: +44 (0) 117 911 4699
info@naturepl.com
http://www.naturepl.com
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.