King penguin

It lays 1 egg per clutch, the egg incubation period is 53.5 days, and it reaches sexual maturity at 4.7 years. The species is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, is partially migratory, and checklists record it in Australia.

Weight

11.3 kg – 12.8 kgsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Lifespan

26 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

marinesrc for Habitat

Egg incubation

53.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation

Young per litter or clutch

1src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

4.74 yearssrc for Age at maturity

Litters or clutches a year

0.7src for Litters or clutches a year

Lifestyle

Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle

Migration

Partialsrc for Migration

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

1 countrysrc for Countries on record

The king penguin is listed for 1 country.

The same countries as a list

1. Australia

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

The king penguin is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classAves
4. orderSphenisciformes
5. familySpheniscidae
6. genusAptenodytes
7. SpeciesAptenodytes patagonicus J. F. Miller, 1778

Synonyms Aptenodytes longirostris, Aptenodytes patagonia, Aptenodytes patagonicus patagonicus

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

NT, Near Threatened

Emperor penguin

Aptenodytes forsteri

Spheniscidae

A

Aptenodytes ridgeni

SpheniscidaeNo free photo yet

CompareKing penguin vs Emperor penguinKing penguin vs Aptenodytes ridgeni

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
  Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{king_penguin_2026,
  title = {King penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/king-penguin},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}