Chinstrap Penguin

Common Name:

Chinstrap Penguin

Scientific Name:

Pygoscelis antarcticus

Diet:

Carnivore

Group Name:

Colony

Size:

28 inches

Weight:

6.6–11.0 pounds

A sprawling city bustles with the loud racket of morning rush hour. Crowds of commuters hurry past each other. Suddenly one traveler bumps into another and sets off a shouting match.

This might seem like a typical morning in New York City, but the location is Antarctica, and these commuters are chinstrap penguins. Named for facial markings that resemble helmet chinstraps, these flightless, two-foot-tall birds live in and around Antarctica and nest in crowded communities called colonies. Many chinstrap colonies are home to hundreds of thousands of individuals and have a lot in common with man-made urban centers. The seabirds that inhabit them are the ultimate city slickers.

Bird builders

Every November, near the start of summer in Antarctica, chinstrap penguins arrive at their breeding grounds on Antarctica's shores. There, they begin an activity you see in a lot of urban areas: construction work. Mated pairs use pebbles to build nests that are up to 20 inches wide.

Like houses in many human neighborhoods, the nests are arranged side by side. The animals live in close quarters for safety. A lone nest would be a prime target for a skua, a predatory bird that swoops from the sky to snatch chinstrap eggs and chicks. But together the animals can team up and ward off enemies.

Protective parents

Chinstraps don't just need to look out for predators, though. They must also be on alert for burglars within the colony. That's because the penguins regularly try to steal stones from each other’s nests. The animals fend off would-be robbers by swatting them with their wings. Why are chinstraps so protective of their pebbles? The rocks will shield eggs and chicks from snowmelt, which could be deadly to developing offspring if it seeps into the nest.

A few weeks after a pair builds its nest, the female lays two eggs. They hatch about a month later in mid- to late December. To keep their young warm, chinstrap moms and dads take turns squatting right on top of them.

Takeout for dinner

When a parent isn't babysitting, it heads off to work. The parent's job? Catching fish for the family. To commute from their homes to the ocean, chinstraps waddle along "roads" that have been used by colony members for so long that they've become well-worn footpaths. Like city streets, the paths bustle with individuals. After traveling a mile or more from their nesting site, the penguins reach the colony's "food market" at the edge of the sea. There, they dive into the water in search of shrimplike krill. (Play Krill Smackdown!)

The speedy chinstraps—they can zip through the water at 20 miles an hour—catch enough krill to fill their bellies. Back at their nests, they regurgitate, or throw up, some of the krill and feed it to their young.

Winter break

In late January, offspring are left in groups so both moms and dads can search for food. The groups—which are sort of like community day-care centers—huddle together for warmth. Eventually the chicks begin to roam the colony together. When they’re about eight weeks old, they shed their gray, downy coats for black-and-white feathers. Then the young chinstraps strike out on their own, heading to the sea to learn how to catch food.

By late March, these penguin cities empty out. Chinstraps spend the next several months at sea. The following November, the birds will return to re-create their metropolis. New residents will hatch, and parents will once again prepare their chicks for life in the big city.

Check out the book Penguins vs. Puffins for more about these amazing birds!