Scientific Classification

Common Name

royal penguin

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Sphenisciformes

Family

Spheniscidae

Genus Species

Eudyptes schlegeli

Fast Facts

Description

Royal penguins are the largest of the crested penguins. Yellow, orange, and black crests extend to behind the eye. Crests meet in the middle of the forehead. Their chin can be pale white to gray.

Size

66 to 76 cm (26 to 30 in.)

Weight

Up to 5.5 kg (12 lbs.)

Diet

krill, squids

Incubation

32 to 37 days
Clutch Size: 2 eggs

Sexual Maturity

7 to 9 years old

Life Span

15 to 20 years

Range

Macquarie, Bishop, and Clerk Islands in the Southern Ocean

Habitat

Beaches or slopes covered in grasses

Population

Approximately 850,000 breeding pairs; most of population is located on Macquarie Island

Status 

IUCN: Vulnerable
CITES: Not listed
USFWS: Not listed

Fun Facts

Crested penguins (genus Eudyptes) lay two eggs. The second-laid egg and the subsequent chick is usually the larger of the two and usually the survivor. It typically hatches first or at the same time as the chick from the first-laid egg. The first-laid egg is often kicked out of the nest by the adults prior to hatching time.

The royal penguin was once considered a subspecies of the macaroni penguin.

For more information about penguins, explore the Penguin InfoBook.

Ecology and Conservation

The royal penguin population was heavily exploited for oil from 1870 to 1918. The population is currently stable and recovering from this earlier exploitation.

All 18 penguin species are legally protected from hunting and egg collecting. The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 makes it illegal to harm, or in any way interfere with, a penguin or its eggs. Every penguin specimen collected with a permit must be approved by and reported to the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR). Penguins are vulnerable to habitat destruction, overfishing of primary food sources, ecological disasters such as oil spills, pollution such as trash in the ocean, and human encroachment into nesting areas.

Bibliography

BirdLife International (2006) Species factsheet: Eudyptes schlegeli. Downloaded from birdlife.org

Coats, Judith. Penguins: Flightless Birds of the Southern Hemisphere. SeaWorld Education Department, 2001.

Nuzzolo, Debbie. Penguin March. SeaWorld Education Department, 2002.

Photo Credit: RoyalPenguins2.jpg. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Image by: M. Murphy. Year Created: 11 February 2006. Website: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RoyalPenguins2.JPG. License: Public Domain.