King Penguin: Facts, Diet & Where to Find Them

1. What Is a King Penguin?

The emperor's smaller, more colorful cousin

King penguins belong to the genus Aptenodytes, the "great penguins," which they share with only one other species: the emperor penguin. The two look alike at a glance. The difference is where they live. Emperors breed on sea ice around the Antarctic continent in the depths of winter. Kings breed on beaches and grassy plains on islands far to the north.

Their range circles the Southern Ocean, roughly between 45° and 55° South. Major breeding islands include South Georgia, the Crozet and Kerguelen Islands, the Prince Edward Islands, Macquarie Island, and the Falklands, with a small colony in Tierra del Fuego.

• Scientific name: Aptenodytes patagonicus, roughly "featherless diver from Patagonia," though they're very much feathered.
• Lifespan: Often 15–20 years in the wild, with some living longer.
• Conservation status: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

2. Size, Colors & How to Tell Them Apart

Tall, sleek, and unmistakably orange

King penguins are tall and slender compared with most penguins, with a long, slightly curved bill. The colors are the giveaway: a silvery-grey back, a white belly, bright orange-gold teardrop patches on each side of the head, and a warm orange wash on the upper chest. The lower bill carries a vivid orange or pink stripe.

The chicks look nothing like their parents. They're covered in thick, chocolate-brown down, and early sailors reportedly thought they were a separate species, nicknaming them "oakum boys" after the brown fiber used to seal ship planks. In a big colony, the brown chicks gather in huge crèches that look like a separate crowd entirely.

3. What King Penguins Eat

Lanternfish, not krill

Most Antarctic penguins live on krill. King penguins mostly don't. Their main food is lanternfish, small deep-water fish named for the light-producing organs along their bodies. Squid make up much of the rest, especially in winter.

• Lanternfish (myctophids): The core of the diet during the breeding season.
• Squid: More important in winter, when adults travel farther to feed.
• Krill: Only a minor part of the diet. Our guide to Antarctic krill explains why so many of their neighbors depend on it.

Lanternfish concentrate along the Antarctic Polar Front, where cold southern water meets warmer water from the north. Breeding kings often commute hundreds of kilometres to reach it, which becomes important when we get to climate change.

4. Deep Divers

Hundreds of metres down, in the dark

Lanternfish spend the day deep in the water column, so king penguins have to go after them. Many dives are to around 50 m, but kings regularly dive past 100 m, and depths of more than 300 m have been recorded. That puts them among the deepest-diving birds in the world, second only to the emperor penguin.

Their foraging trips can be long. During the breeding season, a parent may spend a week or more at sea before returning to swap duties with its partner. In winter, trips get longer still.

On land they're slow and deliberate. In the water they're fast and streamlined, and you'll often see groups porpoising in the surf just off a colony beach, which is worth watching for from the Zodiac.

5. The Longest Breeding Cycle of Any Penguin

More than a year to raise one chick

King penguins don't build nests. A female lays a single egg, and the parents take turns balancing it on their feet, tucked under a fold of warm skin called a brood pouch. They incubate for about 55 days, then keep the newly hatched chick on their feet until it can hold its own temperature.

From there, it gets unusual. The chick is raised for more than a year, including through the sub-Antarctic winter, when food is scarce. Parents visit less often, and chicks can go weeks or even months between meals, losing a lot of weight before feeding picks up again in spring.

• Result: Because each cycle takes 14–16 months, a pair can raise at most two chicks every three years.
• Why it matters to visitors: Colonies are occupied year-round. At almost any point in the tourist season, you'll see courting adults, adults with eggs on their feet, and big brown chicks in the same colony.
• Crèches: Older chicks huddle together in large groups while both parents are away feeding.

6. Population, Predators & Climate

Numerous overall, but not without warning signs

King penguins recovered strongly after being heavily hunted for oil in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Estimates of the global population generally range from about 1.6 million to more than 2 million breeding pairs, depending on the survey.

Not every colony is thriving. The colony on Île aux Cochons in the Crozet Islands, once considered the world's largest, declined by close to 90% between the 1980s and 2017, according to a 2018 study. The cause isn't fully understood.

Climate is the bigger long-term concern. A 2018 study in Nature Climate Change warned that, under high-emission scenarios, as much as 70% of today's king penguins could be forced to relocate or could disappear by 2100. The reason: as the ocean warms, the Polar Front feeding zone is expected to shift south, pushing it beyond the distance parents can travel from many breeding islands.

• At sea: Leopard seals and orcas take adults.
• On land: Skuas and giant petrels prey on eggs and weaker chicks.

7. Where to Find King Penguins

South Georgia first, the Falklands second

For most travelers, South Georgia is the answer. The island hosts several enormous colonies that expedition ships visit regularly, and it's included on many longer Antarctica itineraries that combine the Falklands, South Georgia, and the Antarctic Peninsula.

• St Andrews Bay, South Georgia: Home to one of the largest king penguin colonies in the world, with well over 100,000 birds. Landings depend heavily on surf conditions.
• Salisbury Plain, South Georgia: A huge colony on a wide glacial plain in the Bay of Isles, often backed by fur seals on the beach.
• Gold Harbour and Right Whale Bay, South Georgia: Large colonies in dramatic glacier-and-mountain settings, both regular landing sites.
• Volunteer Point, Falkland Islands: The Falklands' best-known king colony, reachable on some cruise itineraries and by land from Stanley.
• Tierra del Fuego, Chile: A small colony at Parque Pingüino Rey, a popular day trip from Punta Arenas before or after a voyage.

Other big breeding islands, like Crozet, Kerguelen, and the Prince Edward Islands, are rarely visited by tourists. Macquarie Island appears on a few sub-Antarctic voyages from New Zealand and Australia.

Timing: The South Georgia season runs roughly November to March. Earlier voyages often catch courtship and incubation. Later voyages see more well-grown chicks.

8. Visiting a Colony Well

Stand still and let the penguins decide

IAATO's visitor guidelines ask travelers to stay at least 5 meters (15 feet) from penguins. King penguins are famously curious, though, and they don't read the rules. If one walks up to you, stay put and let it move on in its own time.

• Give way on penguin highways: Kings use well-worn paths between the beach and the colony. Don't block them.
• Watch for fur seals: In summer, South Georgia beaches are packed with Antarctic fur seals, and territorial males can charge. Your guides will show you how to handle them.
• Lens choice: A mid-range zoom (24–105mm or similar) is often more useful than a long telephoto, because the birds come so close. Our guide to the best camera for Antarctica has more detail.
• Biosecurity: Boots and clothing are cleaned before and after every landing to protect the islands. Expect it, and don't take shortcuts.