King penguin
Aptenodytes patagonicus
About the object
The king penguin lives in colonies in Antarctica numbering several thousand creatures. Standing at up to 94 cm tall, it is the second largest penguin after the Emperor Penguin. Characteristic features of the king penguin are its orange cheek patch and yellow-orange plumage in the upper chest area, as well as its beak. Males are also slightly larger than females. The egg is incubated alternately by both male and female birds balancing in a skin fold on the feet. The hatched king penguin chicks are covered with a heavy brown down. As a result, they were initially considered to be a separate species and described in scientific publications of the 19th century as a "woolly penguin". This specimen of a full-grown, adult king penguin has been part of the Zoological Collection at the Museum Natur und Mensch (Museum of Nature and Man) since 1997.