According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, most penguin species are in decline. Although penguins share many characteristics, the threats they face vary according to colony location, contact with humans and other predators, and dependence on sea ice.
This interactive shows where each of the 18 species of penguin lives, the threats they face, and how to find solutions to help save these important sentinels of ocean health.
Penguins serve as marine sentinels because the health of their populations signals changing conditions in the ocean and on land. The 18 penguin species are affected by environmental pressures with varying intensity. Here you can see each species, its population size, and the threats it faces, plus its International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) ranking, based on factors such as population trajectory, geographic range, and current population size.
Native to Antarctica, emperors breed on compacted ice on the continent and its coast, and some trek up to 75 miles across the ice to forage for food. They are the only penguin species that breeds during the Antarctic winter. They are arguably the most famous penguin species, in part because of their starring role in the computer-animated film “Happy Feet” (2006) and the documentary “March of the Penguins” (2005).
Population:
238,000 breeding pairs1
Pressing threat(s):
Climate change and diminished and dispersed prey
IUCN status:
Near Threatened
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for foraging and breeding habitat
King (Aptenodytes patagonicus)
Kings breed on sub-Antarctic and temperate islands. They do not build nests. Instead, the adults balance eggs on their feet and incubate them using a brood patch, an area of featherless skin located on the abdomen.
Population:
1.6 million breeding pairs2
Pressing threat(s):
Fisheries pressure
IUCN status:
Least Concern
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for foraging habitat
Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae)
The Adélie is native to Antarctica, with the largest breeding colonies in the Ross Sea, along the coast of the Antarctic continent, on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, and on the islands of the Scotia Arc. Adélies hunt around and rest on sea ice but need ice-free land to breed. They often nest in very large colonies of up to 200,000 pairs.
Population:
2.37 million breeding pairs3
Pressing threat(s):
Climate change
IUCN status:
Near Threatened
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for foraging habitat
Chinstrap (Pygoscelis adeliae)
Primarily located in the waters around the South Sandwich Islands, chinstraps may rest on large icebergs, but they nest on barren islands. They are easily identifiable by a conspicuous black line running from ear to ear under the chin.
Population:
4 million breeding pairs4
Pressing threat(s):
Climate change
IUCN status:
Least Concern
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for foraging habitat
Gentoo (Pygoscelis papua)
Gentoos nest primarily on sub-Antarctic islands. They are the most adaptable penguins, able to colonize new breeding habitat that is becoming available because of snow and ice melt caused by climate change.
Population:
387,000 breeding pairs5
Pressing threat(s):
Fisheries pressure and overfishing
IUCN status:
Near Threatened
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for foraging habitat
Yellow-eyed (Megadyptes antipodes)
Yellow-eyed penguins live in New Zealand on South Island, Stewart Island, and the adjacent Auckland and Campbell Islands. Unlike most Antarctic penguins, yellow-eyed penguins do not nest within sight of each other. Although they can be seen coming ashore in groups of four to six or more, they then disperse into dense forests to individual nest sites.
Population:
About 1,700 breeding pairs6
Pressing threat(s):
Habitat degradation and invasive predators
IUCN status:
Endangered
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for foraging habitat
Southern rockhopper (Eudyptes chrysocome)
This species is circumpolar, breeding on sub-Antarctic and temperate islands in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. Males will forage up to 500 kilometers (310 miles) from the breeding site.
Population:
1.2 million breeding pairs7
Pressing threat(s):
Climate change, pollution, and habitat degradation
IUCN status:
Vulnerable
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for breeding and foraging habitat
Northern rockhopper (Eudyptes moseleyi)
Northern rockhopper penguins live on the Tristan da Cunha islands and on Gough Island in the central South Atlantic Ocean, and on Amsterdam and St. Paul islands in the Indian Ocean. Scientists classified them as a separate species from the more abundant southern rockhopper penguins because of clear differences in their appearance, sounds, and breeding behavior. Recent analysis of DNA indicates that the two species developed more than 680,000 years ago.
Population:
265,000 breeding pairs8
Pressing threat(s):
Habitat degradation
IUCN status:
Endangered
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for breeding habitat
Erect-crested (Eudyptes sclateri)
This species lives on the islands south and southeast of New Zealand, and most of the population breeds on the Bounty and Antipodes Islands. A female lays two eggs, but the second is up to 85 percent larger than the first and is typically the only one that survives.
Population:
80,000 breeding pairs9
Pressing threat(s):
Fisheries pressure and overfishing, pollution, and habitat degradation
IUCN status:
Endangered
Recommendation(s):
Conduct further research to determine cause of declines, and establish protections for breeding habitat
Fiordland (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus)
New Zealand's South, Solander, Codfish, and Stewart islands are home to fiordland penguins. They nest in diverse places, such as temperate rain forests, sea caves, and rocky shorelines.
Population:
2,500 to 3,000 breeding pairs10
Pressing threat(s):
Introduced predators
IUCN status:
Vulnerable
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for breeding and foraging habitat
Snares (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus)
Snares penguins are native to the Snares archipelago, about 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of New Zealand. They are an indigenous species that has significant cultural and spiritual value to the Polynesian people of New Zealand, the Mãori.
Population:
26,000 to 31,000 breeding pairs11
Pressing threat(s):
Climate change, fisheries pressure and overfishing, and pollution.
IUCN status:
Vulnerable
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for breeding and foraging habitat
Macaroni (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus)
Macaronis are found in southern Chile, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and the South Orkney Islands. They also occupy some of the Antarctic Peninsula. Satellite imagery shows unidentified penguin colonies on the fresh lava flows of McDonald Island, part of a volcanic group of barren Antarctic islands. Scientists believe these may be recolonizing macaroni penguins.
Population:
6.3 million breeding pairs12
Pressing threat(s):
Climate change, introduced predators, and disease.
IUCN status:
Vulnerable
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for breeding and foraging habitat
Royal (Eudyptes schlegeli)
Royal penguins breed exclusively on Macquarie Island and the Clerk and Bishop Islets southwest of New Zealand, an area less than 100 square kilometers (38 square miles). Nonbreeding penguins have been seen in areas ranging from Australia to parts of Antarctica. Albino royals, which are grayish-yellow in color instead of black, are occasionally seen.
Population:
500,000 breeding pairs13
Pressing threat(s):
Climate change, pollution, and introduced predators.
IUCN status:
Vulnerable
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for breeding and foraging habitat
African (Spheniscus demersus)
Breeding colonies exist in three regions along the southwestern coast of Africa: Namibia in the north and South Africa's Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces in the south. Breeding is mostly monogamous&emdash;on South Africa's St. Croix Island, scientists found that up to 92 percent of the penguins breed with the same mate the next season.
Population:
26,000 breeding pairs14
Pressing threat(s):
Climate change, fisheries pressure and overfishing, and pollution.
IUCN status:
Endangered
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for breeding and foraging habitat
Magellanic (Spheniscus magellanicus)
Magellanic penguins live on the southern coasts of South America, from central Argentina to central Chile. They migrate long distances, swimming up to 16,000 kilometers (10,000 miles) per year.
Population:
1.3 million breeding pairs15
Pressing threat(s):
Climate change, fisheries pressure and overfishing, and pollution.
IUCN status:
Near Threatened
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for breeding and foraging habitat
Humboldt (Spheniscus humboldti)
Humboldt penguins are found on the coasts of Chile and Peru in the region of the Humboldt Current. They must eat at least 340 to 600 grams (12 to 21 ounces) of anchovies every day to replenish the energy they use to find the food.
Population:
1,520 to 5,000 breeding pairs16
Pressing threat(s):
Fisheries pressure and overfishing, climate change, and habitat degradation.
IUCN status:
Vulnerable
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for breeding and foraging habitat
Galápagos (Spheniscus mendiculus)
These penguins are native to the Galápagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador. They live farther north than any other penguin and are the only species to cross occasionally into the Northern Hemisphere.
Population:
1,500 to 4,700 breeding pairs17
Pressing threat(s):
Climate change and introduced predators.
IUCN status:
Endangered
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for breeding and foraging habitat
Little (blue or fairy) (Eudyptula minor)
Little penguins live along the coastline of New Zealand, the Chatham Islands, Tasmania, and southern Australia. These birds are the smallest of the penguin species, measuring approximately 33 centimeters (13 inches) in height and weighing 1 kilogram (2 pounds).
Population:
300,000 breeding pairs18
Pressing threat(s):
Introduced predators, pollution, and habitat degradation.
IUCN status:
Least Concern
Recommendation(s):
Establish protections for breeding and foraging habitat
Endnotes
1 International Union for Conservation of Nature, Red List of Threatened Species, accessed March 14, 2014, http://www.iucnredlist.org. IUCN Red List information for specific penguin species can be obtained by entering the scientific name in the search field "Enter Red List search term(s)."
2 Charles-André Bost et al., "King Penguin (Aptenoydytes patagonicus)" in Penguins: Natural History and Conservation, eds. Pablo Garcia Borboroglu and P. Dee Boersma (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2013), 9.
3 See citation 1.
4 See citation 1.
5 Heather J. Lynch, "Gentoo Penguin (Pygoscelis papua)," in Penguins: Natural History and Conservation, eds. Pablo Garcia Borboroglu and P. Dee Boersma (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2013), 74.
6 Philip J. Seddon et al., "Yellow-Eyed Penguin (Megadyptes antipodes)" in Penguins: Natural History and Conservation, eds. Pablo Garcia Borboroglu and P. Dee Boersma (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2013), 97–100.
7 See citation 1.
8 See citation 1.
9 Lloyd Spencer David, "Erect-Created Penguins (Eudyptes sclateri)," in Penguins: Natural History and Conservation, eds. Pablo Garcia Borboroglu and P. Dee Boersma (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2013), 149.
10 See citation 1.
11 See citation 1.
12 See citation 1.
13 Glenn T. Crossin et al., "Macaroni Penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus) and Royal Penguin (Eudyptes schlegeli)" in Penguins: Natural History and Conservation, eds. Pablo Garcia Borboroglu and P. Dee Boersma (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2013), 193.
14 See citation 1.
15 See citation 1.
16 See citation 1.
17 P. Dee Boersma et al., "Galápagos Penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus)" in Penguins: Natural History and Conservation, eds. Pablo Garcia Borboroglu and P. Dee Boersma (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2013), 294.
18 Peter Dann, "Little Penguin (Eudyptula minor)" in Penguins: Natural History and Conservation, eds. Pablo Garcia Borboroglu and P. Dee Boersma (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2013), 310.
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