Marine Wildlife Encyclopedia
Macaroni Penguin Eudyptes chrysolophus
Macaroni penguins are often seen together with a similar species of penguin, the rockhopper. However, macaronis are significantly larger and have distinctive flame-yellow crests that run above each eye and meet on the forehead.
They are also found farther south, breeding on ice-free coasts on the Antarctic Peninsula. Their breeding colonies are extremely noisy, some containing over a million pairs spaced out just beyond pecking distance of each other.
Macaroni penguins lay two eggs a year, and both parents help with incubation. Their reproductive rate is low, because only one nestling normally survives.
zoom image
- Order Sphenisciformes
- Height 27 in (70 cm)
- Weight 9 lb (4.2 kg)
- Habitat Rocky coasts, open ocean
- Distribution Southern Ocean, Antarctic Peninsula, subantarctic islands, southern South America
zoom image
