Claire Thompson
Baby penguins, or chicks, are fluffy and full of personality. They require attentive care from their parents to survive. Penguin parents go to great lengths to care for their young, with both parents sharing hatching and rearing duties. They feed their chicks regurgitated food, and King Penguins even create a special 'milk' from nutrients. Penguin chicks are unable to swim until they lose their fluffy down feathers and acquire their juvenile plumage, which usually happens around four months after hatching. During this time, the chicks are vulnerable and require extra care and protection from their parents.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Parental care duration | From 56 days in the Adelie Penguin to 15 months in the King Penguin |
| First breeding age | Around 3 years old |
| Time spent incubating the egg | 64-65 days |
| Time taken for baby penguins to learn to swim | Around 4 months |
| Time taken for baby penguins to become fully independent | 5-6 months |
| Time taken for adult plumage to be acquired | About 1 year |
| Food | Regurgitated fish, krill and squid |
| Nesting | King and Emperor penguins balance their eggs on their feet |
| Chick identification | Distinctive call of the chick |
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What You'll Learn
Emperor penguins balance eggs on their feet
Penguin chicks need special care from their parents because they are born with a fluffy down feather covering, which is not waterproof. It takes around four months for baby penguins to be able to swim. During this time, they are reliant on their parents for food and warmth.
Emperor penguins are the largest of the 18 species of penguin. They are unique in that they breed during the Antarctic winter, when temperatures can drop to -40 to -50°C. Emperor penguins are the only penguin species where the male alone incubates the egg. After the female lays a single egg, she passes it to the male, who balances it on his feet for around 64 to 75 days until it hatches. During this time, the male huddles with other males in his colony, and they take turns on the outside of the huddle to keep warm while they fast and wait for their partners to return. The female travels to the ocean to hunt, and she will return to feed the male.
The egg is kept warm by the male's brood patch, a patch of skin without feathers, and loose skin and feathers that engulf the egg. The male's feet are adapted to the icy conditions, containing special fats that prevent them from freezing. The skin of the brood patch is rich in temperature-sensing neurons, which alert the male when the egg needs extra coverage. The egg is pear-shaped to prevent it from rolling away if it falls off the male's feet.
After the chick hatches, the parents continue to care for it for several months until it is grown enough to learn to hunt for its own food. The parents take turns foraging at sea and caring for the chick in the colony. They go on foraging trips of over 650 km and dive to depths of over 500m to find food. The chick stays in a group of other chicks, or 'crèche', while its parents are away. When the parents return, they regurgitate food for the chick. By the beginning of summer, the chick becomes fully independent and travels with the colony to the sea to hunt.
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King penguins have the longest pre-fledge duration
King penguins are the second-largest living species of penguin, native to northern Antarctica and subantarctic islands. They have the longest breeding cycle of all penguins at 13–16 months, and it takes 10–13 months for their chicks to fledge, which is a record among all birds.
King penguins are serially monogamous, with both parents sharing all hatching and rearing duties. They first breed when they are around three years old and spend one summer and two winters raising their young. The female king penguin lays a single egg, which both parents take turns incubating for 65 days. During the guard phase, the female often returns to the sea to forage for food for up to 37 days. After the egg hatches, the parents share the work of feeding the chick for about six weeks before both heading to sea to feed for about nine months, leaving the chick in the rookery.
During this time, the chick, which still has its downy feathers, cannot go into the ocean to hunt for food, so it must fast for 3–5 months. When the parents return, they continue to feed their offspring for several more months until the chick's first set of waterproof feathers grows in. King penguin chicks pile on calories, laying down fat deposits and ballooning to their maximum weight at four months old.
King penguins have a very long pre-fledge duration of 10–13 months, compared to 56 days for the Adelie Penguin. This extended period allows the chicks to gain significant reserves, particularly in the month before fledging.
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Parents feed chicks regurgitated food
Baby penguins, or chicks, are fed a mixture of regurgitated fish, krill and squid by their parents. This is typical among bird species, where the parents forage or hunt for food and then regurgitate it for their chicks. This is especially the case when the young are in a fixed location, and the prey is too small to be carried, or too large to be moved to the nest.
Penguin parents go to great lengths to care for their young, with Emperor Penguins, for example, making foraging trips of over 650 km. They dive to depths of over 500m, with an average of 200 dives per day, to find food for their chicks.
The process of regurgitation involves the parent swallowing the food and saving it for later in a form that the chicks can consume. The food is held for a while, and when the chick is ready to be fed, the adult opens its beak wide and the chick places its beak inside to receive the food.
Penguin chicks need to gain significant reserves, especially in the month before fledging. This is when the parents' foraging trips are most crucial, as the chicks need to pile on calories and lay down fat deposits to reach their maximum weight.
The parental care provided by penguins is truly astonishing, with both parents sharing hatching and rearing duties. They breed when they are around three years old and spend one summer and two winters raising their young.
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Chicks need to gain weight before fledging
Chicks need to gain significant weight before fledging, as this weight loss will help them survive long periods without food when their parents are foraging. King Penguin chicks, for example, pile on the calories and lay down fat deposits to reach their maximum weight at four months old. This enables them to survive long periods without food when their parents are away.
Penguin chicks eat a mixture of regurgitated fish, krill and squid. Certain species of penguins completely digest their food before feeding it to their chicks in the form of a fish 'milk'. This process takes a couple of days, during which the nutrients from the food are turned into oil. Adult penguins also swallow food whole to refrigerate it for their chicks.
During the guard phase, which can last up to 37 days, penguin parents brood the chicks intensively, while the female often returns to the sea to forage. After this, the chicks form tight groups, or crèches, which provide protection against harsh weather and predators.
Emperor Penguins are known for their doting parenting, with the male balancing the egg on his feet during incubation and the female travelling to the ocean to hunt. After the chick hatches, the parents continue to care for it for several months, until it is grown enough to hunt for its own food.
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Galapagos penguins adapt behaviour based on food availability
Penguin chicks are unable to swim until they are around four months old, as they are not yet waterproof. They require constant care from their parents, who take turns foraging at sea and caring for them. During the guard phase, which can last up to 37 days, the female often returns to the sea to forage while the male broods the chicks. After this, the chicks form groups called crèches, allowing the parents to hunt together.
The behaviour of Galapagos penguins is adapted to the fluctuating availability of food in their environment. They are one of the few penguin species that provide post-fledging parental care, which may be due to the unpredictability of food sources in their ecosystem.
The Galapagos Islands, where these penguins live, are volcanic, resulting in extreme variations in temperature between the land and the ocean. The oceanic food supply is inconsistent, fluctuating between bounty and famine depending on climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean.
During times of plenty, Galapagos penguins will continue to feed their fledged offspring. This behaviour is thought to be an adaptation to the whims of the ocean's bounty, allowing the young penguins to learn to hunt effectively. The parents stick close to their nesting site after the chick fledges so they can provide food.
In contrast, during periods of food scarcity, the parents may be forced to leave their chicks for longer periods to forage for food. This behaviour has been observed in other penguin species, such as the King Penguin, where the chicks' weight loss is attributed to fluctuations in food availability.
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Frequently asked questions
Penguin chicks need special care from their parents because they are born with a fluffy down feather covering which is not waterproof, so they cannot swim. They need their parents to feed them regurgitated food and keep them warm.
Penguin parents feed their chicks by regurgitating food. Certain species of penguins also create a kind of 'milk' from the nutrients of the food, which is given to the chicks.
Penguin parents keep their chicks warm by covering them with their brood patch. Emperor penguins also balance their eggs on their feet.
On average, baby penguins stay with their parents for between 5 and 6 months. However, this varies across species.
