Sharing your snack: unusual observation of a chick-chick feeding occurrence in colonial king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus)

• Published in: Behaviour
• Main Authors: Cillard, Anne, Fuentes Rodriguez, Tatiana, Robin, Jean-Patrice, Bize, Pierre, Stier, Antoine, Viblanc, Vincent, A
• Other Authors: L'Institut polaire français Paul-Emile Victor (IPEV), Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche (M.E.N.E.S.R.), Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Swiss Ornithological Institute
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: Allofeeding chick feeding food sharing learning parental care penguin seabird; Allofeeding; chick feeding; food sharing; learning; parental care; penguin; seabird; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; Austral; King Penguins
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04042087; https://hal.science/hal-04042087/document; https://hal.science/hal-04042087/file/HAL_Cillard%20et%20al.%202023.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1163/1568539X-bja10212

International audience King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) are colonial seabirds presenting an extraordinary breeding cycle. Parents take over 14-mo to raise a single chick to independence, upon which fledglings depart at sea for more than a year. Juveniles often return to the colony within the three austral summers following departure, and before the age of first reproduction (around ca. 5-6 years old.), possibly to acquire the essential skills involved in breeding. Little to nothing is known on the acquisition of parental behavior. Here, we report an anecdotal, yet highly unusual, observation of chick-chick feeding behavior in this species. The behavior is highly unusual in that two non-sibling chicks, not yet independent, and hatched at different times (early and late) of the same breeding season were observed, the older chick feeding the younger one. Whereas alloparental feeding is known to occur in this species, this is the first reported observation of a chick-chick feeding event. This unusual behavior raises the question of whether the early social environment plays a role in the acquisition of essential parenting skills in this species.