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Gentoo Penguin (Pygoscelis papua) Size: 50-90 cm Body mass: 5-8.5 kg (male), 4.5-8.2 kg (female)

Australia: Family Group 2 Family Group 2 Table Magpie Goose Cape Barren Goose Black Swan Plumed Whistling-Duck Wandering Whistling-Duck Spotted Whistling-Duck Blue-billed Duck Musk Duck Hardhead Australian Wood Duck Pink-eared Duck Grey Teal Chestnut Teal Garganey Australian Shelduck Radjah Shelduck Freckled Duck Pacific Black Duck Green Pygmy-Goose Cotton Pygmy-Goose Australasian Shoveler Australasian Grebe Hoary-headed Grebe Great Crested Grebe Emperor Penguin King Penguin Adelie Penguin Chinstrap Penguin Gentoo Penguin Royal Penguin Macaroni Penguin Rockhopper Penguin Little Penguin Magellanic Penguin Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Gentoo Penguins are small black-and-white penguins. Their front and underwings are all-white, while the head, throat, back, upperwings and tail are all black. Their irises are white. They have triangular white wisps above their eyes and spare white specks on the head and the nape of the neck. The bill is orange, ecxept for the top of the upper mandible, which is black. The legs and feet are pink.

Taxonomy, classification See Gentoo Penguin at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Gentoo Penguin is available HERE . Gentoo Penguins live around the fringes of the Antarctic continent and on offshore islands. The only other southern continent they reach is Terra del Fuego in South America. In Australia Gentoo Penguins, race "taeniata", can be found on Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean. Gentoo Penguins are non-flying pelagic birds that spend most of their time out in the open ocean and in coastal waters. Penguins can also spend much of their time on ice.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "taeniata" B. Hensen reports spotting Gentoo Penguins, race "taeniata", on Macquarie Island, Southern Ocean, in December 1993. Race "ellsworthi" Although not found in Australian territory, for the sake of completeness, we also describe here Gentoo Penguins, race "ellsworthi". M. Mearns reports spotting Gentoo Penguins, race "ellsworthi", on the Antarctic continent in January 2005. More photos shown below of Gentoo Penguins, race "ellsworthi", were taken by C. Pears at Damoy Point on the Antarctic Peninsula in December 2024 and January 2025.

Photos

Race "taeniata"

This race is also called the "Eastern Gentoo Penguin".

ADULT

Sex unknown

Close-up near-lateral portrait of a Gentoo Penguin (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Macquarie Island, Southern Ocean, December 1993]

Near-lateral view of a Gentoo Penguin waving with one of its flippers (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Macquarie Island, Southern Ocean, December 1993]

Near-lateral view of 3 Gentoo Penguins (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Macquarie Island, Southern Ocean, December 1993]

Dorsal view of a Gentoo Penguin looking sideways, with another one in the background (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Macquarie Island, Southern Ocean, December 1993]

Race "ellsworthi"

This race is also called the "Southern Gentoo Penguin".

ADULT

PAIR

Near-dorsal view of a Gentoo Penguin sending its call into the vastness of Antarctica... (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Antarctica, January 2025]

... and its call was heard (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Antarctica, January 2025]

Sex unknown

Close-up frontal view of a Gentoo Penguin shaking out its plumage (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Antarctica, January 2025]

Close-up frontal view of a Gentoo Penguin looking sideways (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Antarctica, January 2025]

Close-up near-ffrontal view of a Gentoo Penguin (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Antarctica, January 2025]

Near-lateral view of a Gentoo Penguin telling the photographer to get out of the way (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Antarctica, January 2005]

Close-up near-lateral view of a Gentoo Penguin that has found an obstacle on the track to its nest site (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Antarctica, January 2025]

Close-up lateral view of a Gentoo Penguin (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Antarctica, January 2025]

Close-up lateral view of a Gentoo Penguin (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Antarctica, January 2025]

Lateral view of a mob of Gentoo Penguins swimming back to shore, presumably bringing food (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Antarctica, January 2025]

Close-up (near-)lateral comparison between a Gentoo Penguin and a King Penguin presumably bringing food (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Antarctica, January 2025]

Direct lateral comparison between a Gentoo Penguin back, and an Adelie Penguin, front (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Antarctica, January 2005]

Breeding information

Breeding season: ca. Dec - Feb

Eggs: 2

Incubation period: 34 -36 days

Fledging age: ca. 30 days

Gentoo Penguin chicks leave their nests at about 30 days of age. They then form "creches" or rookeries, before they go out to sea at an age of ca. 80-100 days.

Nest building: Female & male

Incubation: Female & male

Dependent care: Female & male

Male and female Gentoo Penguins incubate alternatingly, each bird staying on the nest one day at a time, while the other leaves in search of food.

Overview of part of a large Gentoo Penguin breeding colony (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Antarctica, January 2005]

Walking tracks of Gentoo Penguins to their breeding colony (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Antarctica, January 2005]

Walking track of Gentoo Penguins to a small breeding colony; note the steepness of the slope close to the water's edge
(photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Antarctica, January 2005]

Gentoo Penguin nest colonies can be a fair way from water, and up steep rocky slopes (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Antarctica, January 2025]

Gentoo Penguin nest colony on a steep rocky slope (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Antarctica, January 2025]

Nest

"bungobittah", "lar", "malunna", "jindi" [bundjalung] = nest [Aboriginal]

Type: Bowl

Material: Rocks

Height above ground: N/A

Gentoo Penguin nests can be substantial rock piles, formed into a shallow depression into which the eggs are laid.

Gentoo Penguins on their rock nests (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Antarctica, January 2005]

Gentoo Penguins on their rock nests, with chicks visible under the brooding adults (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Antarctica, January 2005]

Overview of Gentoo Penguins nesting on a rocky outcrop (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Antarctica, January 2025]

Close-up near-frontal view of a Gentoo Penguin on its nest made of rocks (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Antarctica, January 2025]

Close-up lateral view of a Gentoo Penguin on its nest made of rocks (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Antarctica, January 2025]

This wider overview shows that Gentoo Penguins avoid areas covered by snow and ice (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Antarctica, January 2025]

Eggs

"boyanga", "booyanga", "derinya", "dirandil", "koomura", "mirk", "ngampu", "nooluk", "pateena", "pum-pum" = Egg; "dirundirri" = eggs [Aboriginal]; "gawu" = eggs [gamilaraay]

Size: 65 x 55 mm

Colour: White, off-white

Shape: Oval

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