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Ecophysiology

Penguin fathers preserve food for their chicks

Nature volume 408, pages 928–929 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

The king penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus feeds only at sea and must live off its reserves when it comes ashore to breed. We found that male penguins returning to their egg between three weeks before and ten days after it hatches bring food for the chick in their stomachs. This food can be preserved in the stomach for two to three weeks while the male fasts, enabling him to feed the chick if the female's return is delayed.

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Figure 1: Stomach content of king penguins from Possession Island, Crozet Archipelago, in relation to the date of egg hatching and possible outcome of incubation due to the variable duration of the mate's time at sea.
Figure 2: Relation between the mass of the stomach contents of male king penguins returning to the colony for the fourth shift and the time of egg hatching.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre d'Écologie et Physiologie Énergétiques, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 23 rue Becquerel , Strasbourg, 67087 cedex 2, France

    Michel Gauthier-Clerc, Yvon Le Maho, Yannick Clerquin, Samuel Drault & Yves Handrich

  2. Institut Français pour la Recherche et la Technologie Polaire , Plouzané, 29280, France

    Michel Gauthier-Clerc, Yvon Le Maho, Yannick Clerquin, Samuel Drault & Yves Handrich

Authors
  1. Michel Gauthier-Clerc
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  2. Yvon Le Maho
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  3. Yannick Clerquin
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  4. Samuel Drault
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  5. Yves Handrich
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yvon Le Maho.

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Gauthier-Clerc, M., Le Maho, Y., Clerquin, Y. et al. Penguin fathers preserve food for their chicks . Nature 408, 928–929 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35050163

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