ORIGINAL PAPER

• Main Authors: Æ Vincent, Ridoux Æ Charles, Andre Bost
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Kerguelen; Kerguelen Islands; Gentoo penguin; Pygoscelis papua
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.555.2913; http://www.cebc.cnrs.fr/publipdf/2004/LPB27.pdf

Abstract Benthic divers are dependent on local resources and may therefore adopt different foraging strategies to cope with their energetic requirements in varying situa-tions. We investigated the diet of gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) at Kerguelen Islands, comparing its spatial and temporal variations with the general prey distribution. The study was conducted at four sites over 2 years. In total, 212 stomach contents were collected over the entire breeding season. The diet was composed mainly of neritic fish and crustaceans, with important spatial and seasonal variations. Fish dominated the diet at localities facing the open sea (from 38.0 % to 94.6% by mass), whereas crustaceans dominated at the more protected site (84.3 % by mass). Fish were more abun-dant in the winter diet and Euphausia vallentini, the major crustacean species, was more abundant in the summer diet. No inter-year variations were detected. These results are consistent with local prey availability, and highlight the large plasticity of the gentoo penguin diet and foraging behaviour.