King Penguin [1] [2] ( lat. Aptenodytes patagonicus ) is a flightless bird from the penguin family ( Spheniscidae ).
| King penguin |
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| Scientific classification |
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| No rank : | Bilateral symmetrical |
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| International scientific name |
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Aptenodytes patagonicus JF Miller , 1778 |
| Area |
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 Range of subspecies A. p. patagonicus Range of subspecies A. p. halli Breeding sites |
| Security status |
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Least ConcernedIUCN 3.1 Least Concern : 22697748 |
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Content
The king penguin is similar to the emperor penguin , but a little smaller in size and brighter in color. The body of the king penguin is up to 1 m. Adult birds have a gray back, large bright orange spots on the sides of the black head and on the chest. The belly is white. Brown chicks.
King penguin nests on the islands of Tierra del Fuego , South Georgia , the South Sandwich Islands , Prince Edward , Crozet Island , Kerguelen , Hurd , Macquarie .
The global population is over 1 million pairs.
Reproduction
King penguins nest in colonies on hard surfaces, mostly rocks. The male, ready for breeding, walks through the colony, swinging its head so that the females can see orange spots on its head that indicate puberty. From time to time, the male makes invocation cries, raising his beak to the sky. An interested female approaches the male. Sometimes violent fights for females occur during which males violently beat each other with wings. When the female makes her choice, a beautiful dance begins. Penguins either lift their heads up into the sky and shout at the same time, or drop them, as if in impotence. Birds gently touch each other with their beaks and lay their heads on the shoulders of the partner and from the side it looks like penguins are hugging. When the dance ends, the female lays on the ground, taking an inviting pose. The male climbs onto her back and the birds mate. Mating lasts about 4-6 seconds, after which the male moves out of the female. Dance and mating are repeated many times.
Lay one egg in December-January. The female lays an egg on her paws and covers it with a fold on her belly. Then the male is included in the incubation. A characteristic feature of breeding king penguins is that mostly chicks survive from eggs laid in November and December. The remaining chicks, from later clutches, do not have time to grow and die in the winter. Adult birds whose chicks died the next time begin to lay their eggs earlier. At the same time, the birds whose chicks have successfully grown, next time begin to lay their eggs later, and their next chicks do not survive.
| | Sir Niels Ulaf is a brigadier general of the Norwegian Royal Guard, who lives in Edinburgh Zoo. |
Penguins, whose nests are located in places accessible to humans, have been killed by sailors since the 18th century . The uncontrolled extermination of penguins on some islands continued until 1918 , when the number of some colonies fell to a critical level. Today, thanks to many years of protective measures, the number of king penguins on all islands has been fully restored.
- ↑ Gladkov N.A. , Rogacheva E.V., Syroechkovsky E.E. Supervisor Floating birds (Impennes) // Animal Life. Volume 6. Birds / ed. V. D. Ilyichev, I.V. Mikheev, Ch. ed. V. E. Sokolov . - 2nd ed. - M .: Enlightenment, 1986.- S. 35, 112.- 527 p.
- ↑ Boehme R. L. , Flint V. E. The Bilingual Dictionary of Animal Names. Birds. Latin, Russian, English, German, French / Ed. ed. Acad. V. E. Sokolova . - M .: Rus. lang., "RUSSO", 1994. - S. 9. - 2030 copies. - ISBN 5-200-00643-0 .
- Life of Animals vol. 6 Birds M .: Enlightenment 1986
