Species deep dive: Gentoo Penguin
- Mathilde
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
For the last month, I have been in Iceland, and I am back to work as a whale-watching guide with Láki tours. And whilst I have been in Iceland, it has been a proper winter, with temperatures rarely coming above 0 degrees Celsius. We have had plenty of snow, turning the Icelandic landscape into a proper winter wonderland. All this winter weather has made me think back to a time when I was surrounded by snow, ice, and really adorable animals. If you follow me or know me, you know I have a great passion for whales and dolphins.
However, back in 2022, I was lucky to be offered a 6-week contract with Hurtigruten Expeditions on MS Fram, travelling to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and the white continent itself, Antarctica. During this trip, I was mainly focused on whales, obviously, but a happy side effect was that I became absolutely obsessed with Penguins. All this winter weather in Iceland made me think of penguins! Not that we have penguins here, of course (they only live in the southern hemisphere), but how amazing would it be to be surrounded by penguins again! Since I can’t currently be surrounded by penguins, let’s do the next best thing: write about them. So, welcome to the species deep dive into penguins. Oh, wait, there are 18 different species of penguins; it will be too long a blog to write about all of them, so let’s start with my favourite penguin species. The amazing, beautiful and funny Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua).
Gentoo penguins
I saw my first gentoo penguin on the Falkland Islands. There were some nesting on a beach and in some dunes, and some were walking along the beach. They qui
ckly got my attention with their bright orange feet and beak, and it almost seems as if they have white earphones on their heads. And the sound they make almost sounds like a donkey's, hence the Dutch name Ezelspinguïn (donkey penguin). The gentoo penguin is the third-largest penguin species, after the king and emperor penguins. They stand between 70 and 90 cm tall. Besides the orange feet, beak and white headband, they have black-and-white plumage and a brushy tail, which also places them in the brush-tailed penguin group, along with the Adelie and Chinstrap. The brush tail acts as their rudder, and their wings are their flippers. Like all penguins, gentoo are flightless birds. However, when you see a gentoo swim underwater, it definitely looks as if they fly through the water. They are the fastest swimmers of all the diving birds; they can reach speeds up to 36km/h!
Gentoo’s live in colonies around the southern ocean, on (sub) Antarctic islands. They form colonies on rocky beaches and in sheltered valleys, and prefer ice-free areas. Their colony sizes range from just a few couples to thousands of breeding pairs. The building of their nests is an interesting and relatively romantic behaviour. A male who intends to breed and attract a female will start building a nest, and if a female comes, he will present her with a perfect, smooth pebble; this is also known as a ‘pebble proposal’. If the female accepts the pebble, they will start building their nest together in a small, circular nest. They need to make nests out of stone, as an egg on snow will freeze. The female will lay 2 eggs in the nest, a few days apart. Between the colony's nests and the sea, you will find many pathways the penguins made; these paths are also known as penguin highways.
Nest building isn’t always easy, as plenty of penguins also steal pebbles from neighbouring nests. One time, I have even seen a gentoo penguin set a trap as if it were a highwayman. It would hide next to a penguin highway, and jump out to scare an unsuspecting penguin with a big pebble, in the hope that this penguin would drop the pebble in reaction to the sudden appearance of the highway penguin. The highway penguin would then pick up the pebble and waddle very confidently back to its nest. Gentoo penguins tend to mate for life with the same partner, unless their partner doesn’t return to the colony or dies.
The life of a gentoo.
Incubation time is between 34 and 37 days; the hatchlings stay in the nest for a month, whilst the parents take turns in providing warmth/shelter and finding food. When a parent feeds the chick, they will regurgitate the food into the chick's mouth. The idea of regurgitated food doesn’t sound very appealing; however, a chick's stomach can’t digest raw food. The parent eats the food it catches out at sea, and then gives it half-digested to its chicks. After a month or so in the nest, the chicks will start wandering around the colony and forming creches with other chicks. This is so that they can gain independence whilst also remaining safe in numbers. Whilst in the creche, the parents still take turns to bring food to their chick. Sometimes, when the parent arrives at the creche, it will call to its chicks to get their attention and feed them. Feeding sometimes happens with an exercise; the parent starts running, and the chick that can keep up with the parent will get the food.
This happens not just to figure out which chick is the healthiest and strongest, but also to avoid food competition with the other chicks in the creche. The chicks ‘fledge’ after around 62 days; in the more northern latitudes, the fledging period may be twice as long. Their fluffy downy feathers are replaced with their waterproof adult plumage. Around this time, the parents stop caring for their chicks and focus on themselves, eating as much as possible before they return to land for their annual moult. They will then be on land for 2 to 3 weeks, whilst moulting and fasting as they change their old feathers for new ones. Gentoo’s are sexually mature from the age of 2, most gentoo’s wait until they are 4 to start mating. Their lifespan ranges from 15 to 20 years.
Gentoo penguins hunt on the open sea for krill, fish and squid. In their search for food, they can dive up to 200 meters deep and stay underwater for 7 minutes. They can do around 450 dives per day. When looking for food, they generally stay near the coast, but at times they will travel farther out into the open ocean.
The life of a penguin isn’t easy; they have many predators to keep an eye on. Whilst in the water, they should be wary of any orca and seals, such as the leopard seal. But on land, they need to keep an eye out for the sky. Birds like petrels and skuas might try to take eggs or hatchlings from the nest. If they aren't facing any predators, they have the weather to face, with snow showers and, in recent years, also rain. The down feathers of chicks are not waterproof. If they become wet, they can die of hyperthermia.
Watching gentoo penguins in their ice home of Antarctica, and their slightly warmer home in the Falklands, is definitely something I will treasure forever. The way they run around their colonies, stealing pebbles, nibbling at their neighbours if they come too close. Or better yet, just shit all around your own nest, who cares if you hit another penguin? Seeing chicks being fed was an absolutely incredible sight, if somewhat disgusting at the same time. I would definitely love to return to their home and observe them again.
Sources
Borboroglu, P. G., & Boersma, P. D. (2015). Penguins: Natural History and Conservation. University of Washington Press.
Noll, D., Leon, F., Brandt, D., Pistorius, P., Bohec, C. L., Bonadonna, F., Trathan, P. N., Barbosa, A., Rey, A. R., Dantas, G. P. M., Bowie, R. C. K., Poulin, E., & Vianna, J. A. (2022). Positive selection over the mitochondrial genome and its role in the diversification of gentoo penguins in response to adaptation in isolation. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 3767. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-07562-0
Herman, R., Borowicz, A., Lynch, M., Trathan, P., Hart, T., & Lynch, H. (2020). Update on the global abundance and distribution of breeding Gentoo Penguins (Pygoscelis papua). Polar Biology, 43(12), 1947–1956. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02759-3
GenToo Penguin | National Geographic. (n.d.). Animals. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/facts/gentoo-penguin
GenToo Penguins - Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition. (n.d.). Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition. https://www.asoc.org/learn/gentoo-penguins/
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