Royal+Penguin

=**//Royal penguin//**=

=**By Tony 11!!!!!!**=

//Eudyptes schlegeli//
=**http://www.whaletimes.org/royalpeng.htm**=

=**DIET** The diet of the royal penguin is composed of euphausiids (26% of the diet) and myctophid fish (52%) and the remainder squid and other crustaceans. The proportions change marginally throughout the breeding cycle. //Buphausia vallentini// and //Kref~tichthys anderssoni// are the most important prey items (Hull 1997). The diet differs at colonies around the island, particularly between the east and west coasts and shows substantial annual differences.=

=**http://www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid**=

=HABITAT Royal Penguins nest on beaches or on bare areas on slopes covered with vegetation. Like most [|seabirds] they are [|colonial], nesting in scrapes on the ground up to a mile inland. The breeding season begins in September with laying starting in October. Two eggs are incubated for 35 days, with each incubation stint lasting up to two weeks. After brooding the chick for three weeks, both parents forage at sea while the chicks form large [|creches]. The chicks [|fledge] after two months. Young adults usually return to the colony to breed after six years.= =http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Penguin=

=DIET The Royal penguin, //Eudyptes schlegeli//, feeds on krill, small fish, and squid.=

=http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=

=SIZE Total length: 70 cm [|(2)]=

=http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/birds/Eudyptes_schlegeli/more_info.html=

=WEIGHT Weights vary through the year between 4 and 5.5 kg. Females are usually smaller than males.=

=http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Peter_and_barbara_barham/royal.htm=

=INTERESTING FACTS Royal penguins differ from the other crested penguins by having white or pale grey faces and chins [|(3)]. They have black crowns, backs and flippers flecked with white; short, stubby orange bills and sulphur-yellow crests above the eyes that join at the top of the head [|(4)]. Female birds are slightly smaller than the males, but otherwise, the sexes are similar [|(5)]. Royal penguins are sometimes confused with the Macaroni penguin (black chin and face), and some authorities consider the Royal a [|subspecies] of the Macaroni [|(3)].= =http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/birds/Eudyptes_schlegeli/more_info.html#Facts=

=**MORE LINKS**= =http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Eudyptes_schlegeli.html=