Birds · Sphenisciformes · Spheniscidae

Royal Penguin

Eudyptes schlegeli

Near Threatened

It could become endangered in the near future if current threats go unchecked. See full glossary

The royal penguin breeds only on Macquarie Island and a few adjacent islets, in the Southern Ocean. It is told apart from the very similar macaroni penguin by its white or pale grey face rather than a black one. Its colonies are enormous and noisy, and are set up on the island's beaches and slopes. Between 1870 and 1919 it was exploited industrially for the oil rendered from its body, to the point that the species came close to disappearing.

Weight

3 kg – 8 kg

Size

65 cm – 76 cm

Lifespan

20 years

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

Colony

Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.

Sighting difficulty

Moderate

Estimated population

Some 850,000 breeding pairs

OceanPolarIslandsCarnivore Diurnal Colonial Near Threatened Bird Ocean Polar Islands

1countries 2parks14same family

Fun facts

The entire species breeds on a single subantarctic island of 128 square kilometres: Macquarie Island, halfway between Tasmania and Antarctica.
Between 1870 and 1919 hundreds of thousands of birds were boiled down in vats set up on the island itself to render oil: the public outcry against that industry was one of Australia's first conservation movements.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat & environment: Beaches and slopes of Macquarie Island, in the Southern Ocean, and the surrounding subantarctic waters
Sexual maturity: 5 years
Gestation / incubation: 35 days of incubation
Litter / clutch size: 2 eggs

Sources consulted: https://www.iucnredlist.org/ | https://animaldiversity.org/ | https://es.wikipedia.org/