Chinstrap penguin

How it lives

Chinstraps nest on stones and usually lay two eggs, in late November in one source. Both parents share incubation for about 33 to 37 days. Chicks leave the nest at about 7 to 8 weeks. Penguins first breed at about 3 years and can live about 16 to 20 years.

Where it goes

Chinstrap penguins breed in colonies on the Antarctic Peninsula and on islands of the South Atlantic. After breeding they travel long distances at sea. Researchers think the timing of that winter migration may no longer match shifting food supplies in the Southern Ocean.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

A 2020 survey (Strycker et al.) counted about 3.42 million breeding pairs (95% range 2.98 to 4.00 million) in 375 colonies. About 39% of them are in the South Sandwich Islands, 32% on the Antarctic Peninsula region and 28% in the South Orkney Islands. Of the colonies that could be compared with 1980s counts, 45% have probably or certainly declined and 18% have probably or certainly increased. Wikipedia reports an IUCN estimate of about 8 million individuals in 2018, and a decline of about half in under 50 years on Elephant Island. The IUCN lists the species as Least Concern.