The diet of Emperor Penguins <i>Aptenodytes forsteri</i> in Adelie Land, Antarctica

Abstract

This first quantitative study of the diet of Emperor penguins is based on 29 stomach contents collected with a water off‐loading method in Adelie Land. The Emperor is largely ichthyophagous (65% by number and 95% by weight) and feeds extensively on small nototheniids (97% of the fish are 40–125 mm in overall length). These results and data on meal size and feeding frequency of the chick suggest that Emperors are off‐shore foraging birds offering little competition for food with other sea‐birds or mammals.