The king penguin is the second largest species of penguin, smaller, but somewhat similar in appearance to the emperor penguin. There are two subspecies, A. p. patagonicus and A. p. halli; patagonicus is found in the South Atlantic and halli in the South Indian Ocean and at Macquarie Island.
King penguin
Close-up of A. p. patagonicus subspecies in St. Andrews Bay, South Georgia, British Overseas Territories, UK
Mounted skeleton of king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus)
Great colony of king penguins on Salisbury Plain in South Georgia
Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae of the order Sphenisciformes. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapted for life in the ocean water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage and flippers for swimming. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid and other forms of sea life which they catch with their bills and swallow whole while swimming. A penguin has a spiny tongue and powerful jaws to grip slippery prey.
A group of emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) in Antarctica
Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) feeding young. Like its relatives, a neatly bi-coloured species with a head marking.
Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus). The closed neck collar denotes this species.
Southern rockhopper penguin (Eudyptes chrysocome) displaying its distinctive crest