Penguin Watch Talk

How much does a penguin eat please?

  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Hello all,
    canadykr asks how much do Adelie penguins eat, please?

    http://talk.penguinwatch.org/#/subjects/APZ0000aja

    Posted

  • wildmonster by wildmonster

    Here's some info I found. Hope they're of interest:

    (1)
    The amount of food penguins (NOT specifically Adelie penguins) consume in a day:

    "During the summer, when working hard, they consume about 0.9 kg, which is about 2 pounds. During the winter, when they’re taking it easy they eat one third of that."

    http://www.penguinscience.com/education/ask_answers_1.php

    (2)
    Meal sizes of ADELIE CHICKS:

    "range from about 300g to 650g depending on the size of the chicks"

    http://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/wildlife/animals/penguins/adelie-penguins

    (3)
    Food intake of Adelie penguin breeding population (but no mention of the size of the population) :

    • "Intake varies with the quantity and variety of food available from different areas at different times of the year.

    • The entire breeding population of Adélie penguins may consume as much as 1,500,000,000 kg (1,500,000 metric tons) of krill, 115,000,000 (115,000 metric tons) of fishes and 3,500,000 (3,500 metric tons) of squid each year."

    http://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/animal-infobooks/penguin/diet-and-eating-habits/

    (4) Bonus fun factoid:
    Minke whales (small by whale standards at about 25 feet) eat the same food as Adelie penguins - krill and fish. And one minke whale eats about 2,000 times more food than one penguin in a day.

    Posted

  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to wildmonster's comment.

    Hi @Wildmonster

    Thank you very much for your input and dedicated help with answering all these questions! I'm in a hurry now so cannot check the information but I believe you didn't write anything wrong :]

    Happy counting!

    Zuzi

    Posted

  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    I'd like to say thank you too wildmonster - especially for being assiduous about noting your references - very proper 😃

    Posted