- CHARACTERISTICS
- Easily identifiable through the white patch on the top of their heads, behind the eyes.
Adults reach a stature of 75 to 90 cm.
The nests are generally made from a round pile of pebbles. These nests can be quite big, 20 cm high by 25cm diameter. The pebbles are jealously guarded and their owners may be the protagonists of noisy disputes between individuals.
- DIET
- Opportunistic diet, fundamentally fish and crustaceans.
- REPRODUCTION
- They lay two eggs, both weighing 500 g. Father and mother share incubation, taking turns daily.
The eggs hatch after 34 to 36 days.
The chicks remain in the nest some 30 days prior to the formation of chick crèches.
The chicks moult to a sub-adult plumage and go into the sea at around 80 to 100 days.
- CURIOSITIES
- They are the fastest penguins underwater, reaching up to 36 Km/h.
In the water, sea lions, leopard seals and orcas are their predators. On land, the adults do not have predators, but birds have been known to steal their eggs and their chicks.
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- NAME
- Gentoo Penguin
- HABITAT
- Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Kerguelen Islands (sub-Antarctic islands).
- SCIENTIFIC NAME
- Pygoscelis papua
- SPICE
- Poultry
- DIET
- Piscivorous
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