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| Subspecies: | Unknown |
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| Est. World Population: | U |
| CITES Status: | NOT LISTED |
| IUCN Status: | Near Threatened |
| U.S. ESA Status: | NOT LISTED |
| Body Length: | |
| Tail Length: | |
| Shoulder Height: | |
| Weight: | |
| Top Speed: | |
| Jumping Ability: | (Horizontal) |
| Life Span: | in the Wild |
| Life Span: | in Captivity |
| Sexual Maturity: | (Females) |
| Sexual Maturity: | (Males) |
| Litter Size: | |
| Gestation Period: | |
Habitat:
Emperor Penguins are high latitude, ice obligate seabirds; they breed throughout the austral winter, are highly cold adapted and spend their entire lives in the Antarctic region, generally in association with sea ice. The vast majority of colonies are dependent upon land-fast sea ice, which they use as breeding habitat, and upon pack ice that they use as foraging habitat.
Information for most colonies is based upon remote sensing, only available recently, as colony access by researchers is limited. Nevertheless, the general life cycle of the species is reasonably well understood, especially for adults at colonies in the north of the species range.
Breeding takes place almost exclusively on coastal land-fast sea ice, sometimes tens of kilometers from ocean access. Only one known colony occurs wholly on land, where the gradation from fast ice to land ice is continuous (Robertson et al. 2014), while a small number uses available land for parts of their breeding cycle. Four colonies are known to locate at least temporarily onto the top of ice shelves (Fretwell et al. 2014).
Emperor Penguins breed throughout the austral winter. They arrive at their colonies in late March to April, and lay eggs in May to June. Chicks hatch after about 65 days and fledge in December to January (Stonehouse 1953; Prévost 1953, 1961). Chicks disperse widely often heading north into waters of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (Kooyman and Ponganis 2008, Wienecke et al. 2010, Labrousse et al. 2019). Adults moult in summer (January to March) and may travel up to 1200 km to areas of seasonally persistent pack ice, suitable for haul out for several weeks (Kooyman et al. 2004).
Emperor Penguins feed mainly on fish, krill and cephalopods. The relative importance of these dietary items varies with colony location and season (Cherel and Kooyman 1998, Kirkwood and Robertson 1997, Klages 1989, Wienecke and Robertson 1997)
Information for most colonies is based upon remote sensing, only available recently, as colony access by researchers is limited. Nevertheless, the general life cycle of the species is reasonably well understood, especially for adults at colonies in the north of the species range.
Breeding takes place almost exclusively on coastal land-fast sea ice, sometimes tens of kilometers from ocean access. Only one known colony occurs wholly on land, where the gradation from fast ice to land ice is continuous (Robertson et al. 2014), while a small number uses available land for parts of their breeding cycle. Four colonies are known to locate at least temporarily onto the top of ice shelves (Fretwell et al. 2014).
Emperor Penguins breed throughout the austral winter. They arrive at their colonies in late March to April, and lay eggs in May to June. Chicks hatch after about 65 days and fledge in December to January (Stonehouse 1953; Prévost 1953, 1961). Chicks disperse widely often heading north into waters of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (Kooyman and Ponganis 2008, Wienecke et al. 2010, Labrousse et al. 2019). Adults moult in summer (January to March) and may travel up to 1200 km to areas of seasonally persistent pack ice, suitable for haul out for several weeks (Kooyman et al. 2004).
Emperor Penguins feed mainly on fish, krill and cephalopods. The relative importance of these dietary items varies with colony location and season (Cherel and Kooyman 1998, Kirkwood and Robertson 1997, Klages 1989, Wienecke and Robertson 1997)
Range:
Aptenodytes forsteri has a circumpolar range with approximately 54 breeding colonies located around the entire coast of Antarctica, (Trathan et al. 2019). The largest colonies (> 15,000 breeding pairs) occur in the Ross Sea and Weddell Sea. In recent years, some colonies may have relocated (Ancel et al. 2014, LaRue et al. 2015, Fretwell and Trathan 2019).
Future reduction in the suitable breeding habitat is strongly predicted (Jenouvrier et al. 2020) with major changes predicted from the middle of the current century (Bronselaer et al. 2018). The breeding habitat of Emperor Penguins is discontinuous, and only a seasonal feature. Extent, thickness and duration of sea ice are all changing, with regional differences. Refugia may continue to exist in the higher latitude Weddell Sea and Ross Sea, but the areas suitable as breeding habitat are likely to be only a fraction of those currently available.
Conservation:
Conservation Actions Underway
The species is the subject of on-going international research. Most on-the-ground studies have been undertaken at colonies in the northern part of the species range. Less is known about the southern colonies in the Ross Sea or Weddell Sea, where the intensity of winter darkness is much greater and it is colder. Pair bonding, breeding, and laying occur later in these high-latitude colonies (G Kooyman in litt. 2019). The natural history beyond post-moult and before return for breeding are unknown and only one study, conducted in the eastern Ross Sea, focused on non-breeders (Goetz et al. 2018).
Human disturbance is regulated in some areas; to date, seven active breeding sites are designated as Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPA), and seven are protected by the Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area (RSR MPA), of which three are also designated ASPAs. More colonies may eventually become protected. MPAs may afford protection for different life history processes, including potentially breeding, foraging and moulting, as MPAs may provide for more comprehensive protection than do ASPAs. MPAs are essential to protect food resources while ASPAs only protect breeding areas: the RSR MPA will protect over 1.5 million km2 of the Southern Ocean from commercial fishing over the next 35 years (Australian Birdlife 2016).
Currently however, the RSR MPA protects only one of the Emperor Penguin meta-populations proposed by Younger et al. (2015, 2017). Protection of more genetically distinct meta-populations might be important for future resilience to environmental change.
Conservation Actions Proposed
Conduct regular satellite surveys to monitor population trends in the context of habitat availability (e.g. Fretwell et al. 2012, LaRue et al. 2015). Continue monitoring at the individual level and ground-based monitoring of some colonies located along a latitudinal gradient to estimate demographic parameters and their responses to environmental change (e.g. Barbraud and Weimerskirch 2001, Ancel et al. 2014, Jenouvrier et al. 2014, Robertson et al. 2014, Kooyman and Ponganis 2016). Continue to improve on existing modelling work to improve predictions of future population changes (see Jenouvrier et al. 2019). Carry out further research into the species' marine ecology (e.g. age-specific migration routes/distances and foraging strategies) and meta-population structure (e.g. Cristofari et al. 2016; Younger et al. 2015, 2017) to improve understanding of how environmental changes will affect the population. Continue to monitor Antarctic sea ice as well as other environmental variables and processes to assess the availability of suitable breeding habitat and foraging grounds. Continue international work to provide protection.
The species is the subject of on-going international research. Most on-the-ground studies have been undertaken at colonies in the northern part of the species range. Less is known about the southern colonies in the Ross Sea or Weddell Sea, where the intensity of winter darkness is much greater and it is colder. Pair bonding, breeding, and laying occur later in these high-latitude colonies (G Kooyman in litt. 2019). The natural history beyond post-moult and before return for breeding are unknown and only one study, conducted in the eastern Ross Sea, focused on non-breeders (Goetz et al. 2018).
Human disturbance is regulated in some areas; to date, seven active breeding sites are designated as Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPA), and seven are protected by the Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area (RSR MPA), of which three are also designated ASPAs. More colonies may eventually become protected. MPAs may afford protection for different life history processes, including potentially breeding, foraging and moulting, as MPAs may provide for more comprehensive protection than do ASPAs. MPAs are essential to protect food resources while ASPAs only protect breeding areas: the RSR MPA will protect over 1.5 million km2 of the Southern Ocean from commercial fishing over the next 35 years (Australian Birdlife 2016).
Currently however, the RSR MPA protects only one of the Emperor Penguin meta-populations proposed by Younger et al. (2015, 2017). Protection of more genetically distinct meta-populations might be important for future resilience to environmental change.
Conservation Actions Proposed
Conduct regular satellite surveys to monitor population trends in the context of habitat availability (e.g. Fretwell et al. 2012, LaRue et al. 2015). Continue monitoring at the individual level and ground-based monitoring of some colonies located along a latitudinal gradient to estimate demographic parameters and their responses to environmental change (e.g. Barbraud and Weimerskirch 2001, Ancel et al. 2014, Jenouvrier et al. 2014, Robertson et al. 2014, Kooyman and Ponganis 2016). Continue to improve on existing modelling work to improve predictions of future population changes (see Jenouvrier et al. 2019). Carry out further research into the species' marine ecology (e.g. age-specific migration routes/distances and foraging strategies) and meta-population structure (e.g. Cristofari et al. 2016; Younger et al. 2015, 2017) to improve understanding of how environmental changes will affect the population. Continue to monitor Antarctic sea ice as well as other environmental variables and processes to assess the availability of suitable breeding habitat and foraging grounds. Continue international work to provide protection.