Description
Summary:Four species of penguins breed on Crozet Islands, Southern Indian Ocean . Their sizes, diving abilities, breeding cycles, feeding frequencies, foraging ranges, and diets are compared. The King penguin has a well individualized niche, characterized by long foraging trips, wide depth range, and extensive predation on Myctophiid fishes . The Macaroni penguin and the Rockhopper penguin have very similar feeding strategies, but might differ in their feeding ranges and diving depths . The Gentoo penguin, whose nearest ecological relatives are the Eudyptid penguins, is a coastal predator. Contrary to what is the rule in the Scotia Sea area where krill is abundant, the gentoo penguins of the Crozet Archipelago breed in winter, and change their diet in late spring when Eudyptid penguins come back to their breeding colonies