The different breeding strategies of penguins: a review

International audience The 18 penguin species are exclusively and widely distributed in the Southern hemisphere, from the Equator to the Antarctic continent, and are thus submitted to various ecological constraints in their reproductive strategy. This results in a high variability in all aspects of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ancel, André, Beaulieu, Michaël, Gilbert, Caroline
Other Authors: Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC), 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)-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), Biology I, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Mécanismes adaptatifs : des organismes aux communautés, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hal.science/hal-00789518
https://hal.science/hal-00789518/document
https://hal.science/hal-00789518/file/Ancel_CptesRendusBiol_2013.pdf
Description
Summary:International audience The 18 penguin species are exclusively and widely distributed in the Southern hemisphere, from the Equator to the Antarctic continent, and are thus submitted to various ecological constraints in their reproductive strategy. This results in a high variability in all aspects of the breeding biology of the different species. Although penguins appear primarily adapted for a marine existence, they remain dependent on land for breeding, rearing young and moulting. Here we describe and compare the breeding cycle of all the penguin species highlighting the characteristics of each species in terms of breeding range, population status, threats induce by environmental changes, duration of the different phases of the breeding cycle, mate fidelity, body mass, body height, egg mass and duration of egg formation. We also focus on the breeding cycle of the genus Aptenodytes since it largely differs from the breeding cycle of most of the other penguin species.