The King Penguin is the second largest species of penguin at about 90 cm (3.0 ft) tall and weighing 11 to 16 kg (24 to 35 lb), second only to the Emperor Penguin. Like all penguin species, it has a streamlined body to minimise drag while swimming, webbed feet to propel more force when swimming, and wings that have become stiff, flat flippers. There is little difference in plumage between the male and female, although the latter are slightly smaller. The upper parts features of the King penguin include a silvery-grey back with a blackish-brown head decorated with ear patches of bright golden-orange. However, rare individuals have been sighted that have varying degrees of melanism, including one individual spotted on a National Geographic Society expedition to South Georgia Island that was completely black. The 12–13 cm (4¾–5 in) black bill is long and slender, and curved downwards like a banana peel. The lower mandible bears a striking pink or orange-coloured mandibular plate.
An immature bird will have yellow, rather than orange-tinged markings, and grey tips to its black brown feathers. It moults into adult plumage at after reaching two years of age.
An immature bird will have yellow, rather than orange-tinged markings, and grey tips to its black brown feathers. It moults into adult plumage at after reaching two years of age.
The chick is first covered with brown-grey down, before moulting into a thick, woolly brown coat borne until around 10–12 months of age. Their mandibular plates are black until the moult into immature plumage.
Adaptations to the environment
King penguins have adapted well to their extreme living conditions in the subantarctic. To keep warm, the penguins have four layers of feathering. King Penguins have 70 feathers per every square inch. The outer layer of feathers are oiled and waterproof, unlike the feathering of a duck, which reduces to the amount of water absorbed that would otherwise increase their weight. The inner three layers are down feathers, very effective insulation. A chick is born without the oily outer layer, and therefore cannot fish until maturity. A King Penguin chick has dark down feathers. They remain on land and do not go into the water until their down feathers have fallen off.
Drinking
Like most penguins, King Penguins are able to drink salt water because of their supraorbital glands which filter excess salt from their blood stream by way of a capillary just above the eyes. The excess salt is then expelled through the nostrils as a concentrated brine.
King penguins have adapted well to their extreme living conditions in the subantarctic. To keep warm, the penguins have four layers of feathering. King Penguins have 70 feathers per every square inch. The outer layer of feathers are oiled and waterproof, unlike the feathering of a duck, which reduces to the amount of water absorbed that would otherwise increase their weight. The inner three layers are down feathers, very effective insulation. A chick is born without the oily outer layer, and therefore cannot fish until maturity. A King Penguin chick has dark down feathers. They remain on land and do not go into the water until their down feathers have fallen off.
Drinking
Like most penguins, King Penguins are able to drink salt water because of their supraorbital glands which filter excess salt from their blood stream by way of a capillary just above the eyes. The excess salt is then expelled through the nostrils as a concentrated brine.
