1990/04/01 by Gerald L. Kooyman, Donald A. Croll, Sheridan Stone +1 · 18 citations
Environmental Science · Engineering · #Avian ecology and behavior #Radio Wave Propagation Studies #Fledge #Predation #Biological dispersal #Cape #Zoology #Leopard #Biology #Seabird #Mammal #Pygoscelis #Seasonal breeder #Ecology #Geography #Demography #Population #Archaeology #Foraging
paper · doi:10.1017/s0032247400011141
published in Polar Record 26(157), 103-108 (Cambridge University Press)
openalex publication_date 1990/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/19
Abstract This article describes the natural history of a large colony of emperor penguins Aptenodytes for steri , its size, dispersal pattern of chicks, and associations with other bird and mammal species. A mid-season count of 19,364 chicks indicated that about 20–25,000 breeding pairs had been present in June and July. The colony was fragmented into several sub-groups which showed different mean sizes of chicks and survival to fledging. Other species observed included leopard seals Hydrurga leptonyx , the only major predators, which preyed heavily on both adults and fledging chicks. Fledgelings left the colony over a period of about 10 days; departure was an active process in which the chicks walked to the ice edge and dispersed in groups, swimming consistently southward. At this time they were still in about 60% down and weighed about 10 kg, having lost some 30% of the heaviest mass achieved during parental feeding.