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King penguins (background) and Gentoo penguins (foreground) in the Sub-Antarctic Islands part of the Montreal Biodôme.
These two Fiordland Crested Penguins start speeding down towards the beach.
(I now know not to set a longer minimum focus distance when photographing from ground level.)
(Please feel free to share this image on Facebook, but no other usage without written permission. Thanks.)
Check this out! It's worth waiting in that line!
BTW, these African penguins are not adapted to cold weather. They're kept in a heated building when the outdoor temperature gets too low.
Rockhopper penguin on Saunders Island.
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Rockhopper penguins reside in the large the black-browed albatross rookery on West Point Island, Falkland Islands The birds are at peace here thanks to the absence of cats and rats.
King penguins courting at Volunteer Point.
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Color of Life note: The blackish -grey top surface of the African Penguin camouflages it from predators above it and the mostly white underside does the same for predators below it.
TAXONOMY
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Aves (birds)
Order: Sphenisciformes (Penguins )
Family: Spheniscidae
Genus/species: Spheniscus demersus
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Like most birds with shared parental duties, sexes are similar in appearance. Adults: upper parts blackish-grey, underparts mostly white with inverted black horseshoe extending down flank to thigh. Feet and legs black. Chicks arrive with secondary down feathers. Juveniles are grey blue and immatures gradually come to resemble adults in aprox. 3 years..
Length up to To 70 cm (28 inches) tall.
Weight up to 3.5 kg (7.7 lb)
DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Found off the Coasts of South Africa and Namibia.Nests in colonies mainly on offshore islands. Rarely encountered more than 8 km from islands or mainland.
DIET IN THE WILD: Piscivorous. They feed primarily on shoaling fishes such as anchovies, mackerel and herring. They can reach a top speed of close to 20 km/h (12 mph). On the west coast a typical foraging trip could range from 30 to 70 km (18-44 miles) for a single trip. On the south coast, foraging birds cover an average of 110 km (68 miles) per trip.
Academy diet: Vitamin fortified herring, and capelin.
REPRODUCTION: Monogamous colonial nesters. They dig nesting burrows.and lays 2 eggs which are then incubated by both parents for about 40 days. The pair feeds their young for about one month by regurgitating food into the hatchling's mouth.The average time to independence is 80 days.
LONGEVITY: May live to at least 25 years.
PREDATORS: Seals in the water and mongooses, large-spotted genets and leopards on land. Eggs and chicks are eaten by feral cats, Kelp gulls and Sacred Ibises.
CONSERVATION: IUCN Red List: Vulnerable (VU) 2010
Threats: Depleted fish stocks, collection of guano fertilizer, oil pollution and collection of eggs in the past have resulted in a 90 percent drop in the population since 1900.
REMARKS: The alternate common name “jackass” is a reference to its donkey-like vocalization.
California Academy of Sciences penguins
Wing bands identify males females and couples. Males right, females left and couples are the same color.
African penguins are finding a strong ally in the Species Survival Plan (SSP), a program sponsored by the California Academy of Sciences and 53 other zoos and scientific institutions in the U.S. and Canada. The captive population acts as a reservoir for genetic diversity, and could eventually be used to bolster wild penguin populations.
See the Academy web site below for more information and a 24 hour web cam.
Penguins constantly work to keep their feathers clean, well-oiled, and waterproofed. They preen their feathers by nipping at an oil glad at the base of their tail to express oil which transferred to their beaks and then to their body feathers.
References
Ron's Wordpress shortlink wp.me/p1DZ4b-1xH
California Academy of Sciences www.calacademy.org/explore-science/common-penguin-behaviors
California Academy of Sciences www.calacademy.org/explore-science/live-penguin-cams
BirdLife International www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3861
ARKive
www.arkive.org/african-penguin/spheniscus-demersus/
Animal Diversity Web
animaldiversity.org/accounts/Spheniscus_demersus/
IUCN Red List www.iucnredlist.org/details/22697810/0
2009, 2015
At 2:15 pm each day, penguins participate in a parade around Edinburgh Zoo. Participation is voluntary; different penguins (of different varieties) choose to join the 'march' each day.
King penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) are found on sub-Antarctic islands. They are closely related to Emperor penguins, however these live in the Antarctic and are larger than King penguins.
Both species lay only one egg and incubate it on top of their feet, but unlike the Emperor penguin, both the male and female King penguin will share incubation duties and take care of the chick when it hatches. King penguin chicks are very unusual-looking for the first year of their lives, as they have very shaggy, brown feathers and can appear to be even larger than their parents.
The Humboldt Penguin (Spheniscus humboldti) is a South American penguin, that breeds in coastal Peru and Chile. Its nearest relatives are the African Penguin, the Magellanic Penguin and the Galápagos Penguin. The penguin is named after the cold water current it swims in, which is itself named after Alexander von Humboldt, an explorer.
Due to a declining population caused in part by over-fishing, climate change, and ocean acidification, the current status of the Humboldt penguin is threatened. Historically it was the victim of guano over-exploitation. Penguins are also declining in numbers due to habitat destruction including by invasive species. The current population is estimated at between 3,300 and 12,000. In August 2010 the Humboldt penguin of Chile and Peru, was granted protection under the U.S. Endangered Species.
In 2009 at a zoo in Bremerhaven, Germany, two adult male Humboldt penguins adopted an egg that had been abandoned by its biological parents. After the egg hatched, the two male penguins raised, protected, cared for, and fed the chick in the same manner that regular penguin couples raise their own biological offspring. A further example of this kind of behavior came in 2014, when Jumbs and Kermit, 2 Humboldt Penguins at Wingham Wildlife Park became the center of international media attention as 2 male penguins who had pair bonded a number of years earlier and then successfully hatched and reared an egg given to them as surrogate parents after the mother abandoned it half way through incubation.
Rockhopper penguins at West Point Island.
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King Penguins at Volunteer Point.
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King penguin checking out mate's feet.
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Rockhopper Penguin at Bleaker Island.
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