Gentoo Penguin - Pygoscelis Papua
Distinguishing features	Gentoos are easily recognised by the wide white stripe extending like a bonnet across the top of their heads. Chicks have grey backs with white fronts.
Sub-species	Two sub-species are recognised. P. p. papua and the smaller P.p. ellsworthii.
Height	Adult Gentoos reach a height of 75 to 90 cm.
Weight	Males have their maximum weight of about 8 kg just before moulting and their minimum weight of about 5.5kg just before mating. For females the maximum weight is 7.5kg just before moulting but their weight drops to below 5 kg when guarding the chicks in the nest.
Breeding locations	Gentoos breed on many sub-Antarctic Islands. The main colonies are on the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and Kerguelen Islands; smaller populations are found on Macquarie Island, Heard Islands, South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. The total breeding population is estimated to be over 300,000 pairs On the map the pale yellow dots indicate the breeding areas of the sub-species P. p. papua and the orange dots those of the P. p. ellsworthii sub-species.
Nesting behaviour	Nests are usually made from a roughly circular pile of stones and can be quite large, 20 cm high and 25 cm in diameter. Two eggs are laid both weighing around 130 g. The parents share incubation changing duty daily. The eggs hatch after 34 to 36 days. The chicks remain in the nests for about 30 days before forming creches. The chicks moult into sub-adult plumage and go out to sea at about 80 to 100 days.
Principal diet	Gentoos live mainly on crustaceans such as krill with fish making up only about 15% of the diet..

Bibliography

Penguins of the World Pauline Reilly, OUP, Oxford, 1994.

The Penguins Tony D Williams, OUP, Oxford, 1995.

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