Emperor penguin colony at Cape Washington, Antarctica
Abstract This article describes the natural history of a large colony of emperor penguins Aptenodytes for steri , its size, dispersal pattern of chicks, and associations with other bird and mammal species. A mid-season count of 19,364 chicks indicated that about 20–25,000 breeding pairs had been pre...
| Published in: | Polar Record |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1990
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400011141 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400011141 |
| Summary: | Abstract This article describes the natural history of a large colony of emperor penguins Aptenodytes for steri , its size, dispersal pattern of chicks, and associations with other bird and mammal species. A mid-season count of 19,364 chicks indicated that about 20–25,000 breeding pairs had been present in June and July. The colony was fragmented into several sub-groups which showed different mean sizes of chicks and survival to fledging. Other species observed included leopard seals Hydrurga leptonyx , the only major predators, which preyed heavily on both adults and fledging chicks. Fledgelings left the colony over a period of about 10 days; departure was an active process in which the chicks walked to the ice edge and dispersed in groups, swimming consistently southward. At this time they were still in about 60% down and weighed about 10 kg, having lost some 30% of the heaviest mass achieved during parental feeding. |
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