Penguins of Antarctica! 7 Playful Types to Chill With

Types of Penguins in Antarctica

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Move over “Happy Feet”!

Yes, Emperor penguins, you’re the royalty of Antarctica.

Statuesque, regal and topping out at a majestic four feet tall, you’ve definitely earned your crown as the largest penguins on Earth.

But, you see, we really want to talk about your smaller (and arguably cuter) cousins.

Like peppy little Adelies, dapper Chinstraps, shy Gentoos and those funky-haired Macaroni penguins – plus a few other quirky Antarctic characters. These are the penguins you’re most likely to meet if you visit Antarctica on an expedition cruise.

These other penguin types are the ones you’re most likely to meet if, like us, you visit Antarctica on an expedition cruise.

Oh, and don’t worry Emperors, we’ll circle back to you at the end of this post. But first, here’s our guide to the playful penguins of Antarctica you’re most likely to spot!

Emperor penguins huddle together
Emperor penguins huddle together

Featured reader comment

I am a big fan of penguins. Great information!

Like you, I have seen all the Antarctic penguins except the Emperor.


I really loved the Falkland Islands. On one particular day in the Falklands, I saw five different kinds of penguins in the same day!


One correction to this article, though… You say “Other penguins are found in Argentina, Australia and Chile.” What about the Galapagos penguin, which lives in Ecuador? (And the Galapagos penguin sometimes ventures to the other side of the equator, which is technically the Northern Hemisphere. But that’s quibbling.)


Anyway, your photos and explanations are excellent.


Thank you for spreading the word about needing to protect these delightful birds.
cathy

Surprise! Not all penguins call Antarctica home

Types of Penguins in Antarctica
A pair of penguins getting cozy with each other in Antarctica

Sure, most penguins stick to the Southern Hemisphere (no Arctic penguins here!). But depending on how you count, there are 17 or 18 different penguin species in total.

Some penguins live in New Zealand.

Meanwhile, over in South Africa, you find African penguins – and watching them swim at Boulders Bay is a popular Cape Town tourist attraction.

Penguin at Boulders Beach
This African penguin at Boulders Beach prefers sun and sand to ice and snow (like us!)

More penguins are found in Argentina, Australia and Chile.

The most northern penguin species is the Galapagos penguin, one of the smallest penguins in the world.

Amazingly, these little guys manage to live right near the equator! They survive in the tropical Galapagos Islands thanks to the cool nutrient-rich waters brought up from Antarctica by the Humboldt and Cromwell currents.

As for the Antarctic’s waddling wonders?

There are 7 types of penguins that live in Antarctica and its chilly neighborhood – the sub-Antarctic regions.

Sub-Antarctic and Antarctic penguins

Map of Antarctica and Sub-Antarctic Islands
(Credit: Oceanwide Expeditions)

Take a peek at the map above of the Antarctic Peninsula and surrounding sub-Antarctic islands – it helps show where these penguins actually live.

The Antarctic Peninsula itself juts out from mainland Antarctica.

To its north, you’ll find the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, the South Orkney Islands, the South Shetland Islands and the Falklands – all part of the sub-Antarctic zone.

7 Types of penguins in Antarctica

1) Adelie penguins

Adelie penguins
Adelie penguins march in a line at Brown Bluff, Antarctica

Adelies are the really cute ones.

They’re named after Adelie, wife of the French explorer Jules Dumont D’Urville, who first discovered these penguins in 1840 on the Antarctic coast.

The smallest of the penguins in Antarctica, they’re only 18 to 24 inches tall, and they live on rockier parts of the Antarctic continent (unlike the Emperors, which live on ice).

Adelie penguins in Antarctica diving into the water for a swim
Adelie penguins in Antarctica diving into the water

We saw many Adelies on our cruise of the Antarctic Peninsula.

They’re fun to watch and put on quite a comical show – hopping around, marching one after the other along snow banks, and sledding and sliding down hills on their bellies.

An Adelie penguin tobogganing down a hill
An Adelie penguin tobogganing down a snowy slope

Curious creatures, they’d climb over our outstretched legs as we sat on the snow to watch them.

And when we lay on our bellies to photograph them, they’d often come right up to us and peck at our camera lenses.

An Adelie penguin in Antarctica jumps across the ice.
An Adelie penguin jumps across the ice

2) Chinstrap penguins

A Chinstrap penguin poses for the camera.
A Chinstrap penguin poses for the camera

You can recognize Chinstrap penguins by the narrow band of black feathers which stretches from ear to ear, just below their chin.

They grow to about 28 to 30 inches tall.

Like Adelies, these Antarctic penguins build their nests by scraping the ground and lining it with pebbles – and they often steal pebbles from a neighbor’s nest.

Chinstrap penguins are one of the types of penguins in Antarctica
A Chinstrap penguin carries a pebble in its beak to build its nest

But unlike other penguin species, where the stronger chick wins out when feeding, Chinstrap parents treat both chicks that hatch equally.

Sadly, Chinstraps are suffering the same fate as many of their penguin cousins – their numbers are plummeting.

A 2020 scientific expedition to Elephant Island (on the outskirts of the South Shetland Islands) found that populations of Chinstrap penguins – once among the most abundant Antarctic penguins – have dropped by 50% and more in the past half century.

The likely culprit? Global warming. As ocean temperatures rise and sea ice patterns shift, it’s becoming tougher for these hardy little penguins to find the krill they rely on for food.

Photographing Chinstrap penguins in Antarctica
Taking photos of Chinstrap penguins…

Did you know Antarctica is blue? Okay, not all of Antarctica, but a lot of Antarctica’s icebergs are blue!

3) Gentoo penguins

Gentoos are just some of the Antarctica penguins you typically see on an expedition cruise

Sporting bright orange beaks and feet, Gentoos are the third largest species of penguins in Antarctica (after Emperor and King penguins) – standing 30 to 35 inches tall.

These penguins are the fastest underwater swimmers and can rocket through the water at speeds of 17 mph.

Gentoo penguin feet
Proud-looking Gentoos with bright orange feet

But Gentoos are more timid, retreating if other penguins act boldly toward them.

They’re also considered a threatened species, with only about 320,000 breeding pairs worldwide.

We visited Antarctica at the beginning of their summer season – late November – right during Gentoo penguin mating season.

And it was particularly fascinating to watch them mate! The males woo females by presenting them with small stones, which the females use to build their pebble nests – a true Antarctic love offering.

Gentoo penguins mating
Love is in the air! Gentoo penguins mating…

4) Macaroni penguins

Macaroni penguin
Oh, don’t you look smart with your orange-yellow eyebrows!

You can’t miss a Macaroni penguin – just look for those wild spiky orange “eyebrows.” (Or are they more like eyelashes? Either way, they’re seriously stylish.)

In fact, their flashy feather crest is where they get their name. Back in the 18th century, trendy British men known as “macaronis” sported flamboyant feathered hats – and someone clearly thought these penguins shared their fashion sense!

Macaroni penguin laying an egg
Someone has laid an egg!

Macaronis are about the same size as Chinstrap penguins (#2 above), but they gather in much bigger crowds. Colonies in the Falklands and other sub-Antarctic islands can number in the hundreds of thousands. There’s even one known colony tucked away on the Antarctic Peninsula.

In South Georgia, their breeding season kicks off in October. The females lay two eggs, but oddly, the first egg rarely survives, and the parents focus their care on the second egg, laid a few days later.

Thankfully, Macaronis are thriving – they’re the largest penguin population in the world.

5) Rockhopper penguins

Rockhoppers are one of the strangest-looking types of Antarctica penguins
Rockhoppers are one of the strangest-looking types of Antarctica penguins

Guess what Rockhopper penguins like to do?

Yes, that’s right. Hop from stone to stone.

Whereas the Adelies (#1) will slide down hills on their bellies, Rockhoppers prefer to hop about to get around the rocky shores where they live – the Falklands, the Australian Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI), and other sub-Antarctic islands.

Rockhopper penguins in the Falkland Islands.
Look at the haircuts on these Rockhoppers

They’re also great divers, and can dive down more than 300 feet – and stay there for several minutes – while hunting for krill, squid and other yummy penguin food.

Like Macaroni penguins, they’re a crested penguin. Don’t you love their punk hair style? It goes with their red eyes, don’t you think?

They’re feisty little penguins too, and have a habit of getting into spats with each other.

And like many other penguins, when they mate, Rockhoppers mate for life. (Actually, 90% of birds are monogamous.)

6) King penguins

You have to cruise to South Georgia Island to see King penguins

You can be forgiven for mistaking a King penguin for an Emperor. With their colorful yellow throats and patches of orange on their heads and beaks, King penguins look very similar to Emperor penguins.

Standing at 2½ to over 3 feet tall, Kings are the second largest penguins (after Emperor penguins).

The largest colony is found in South Georgia – it’s estimated to have over 200,000 Kings.

If you’re lucky enough to go there, you’ll be amazed at the sight of what looks like a sea of penguins spreading out as far as the eye can see over the rocky shoreline.

Kings are serially monogamous. So they mate with only one other penguin for the season. But the next season – they’ve got their eyes on new loves! About 70% find a new mate each season.

Kings are also unique in that they don’t make a nest out of a pile of stones like other Antarctic penguin species.

Instead, the female lays one egg.

And then both parents share “incubation” duty. They trade off carrying the egg around on the tops of their feet, covered by a fold of loose skin called a “brood hatch” to keep the egg warm.

A King penguin carries an egg on top of its feet
See the egg on the top of this King penguin’s feet?

Each parent cares for the egg for 6 to 18 days before shuffling it to the other parent. And when they’re not on egg incubation duty, they swim off looking for food. This goes on for 55 days until the chick hatches.

The penguin chick is then carried around on their parents’ feet for another 30 to 40 days until they’re big enough to keep themselves warm.

A King penguin feeds its chick.
A King penguin feeds its chick

King chicks look so different from adults that if you didn’t know it, you’d think they were a totally different bird.

Early explorers, in fact, thought they were a different type of Antarctic penguin because they look so different – brown and woolly.

7) Emperor penguins

A regal pair of Emperor penguins
A majestic pair of Emperor penguins

We finish off our list of penguin species in Antarctica with more about Emperor penguins.

We didn’t see Emperor penguins on our Antarctic cruise (nor did we expect to).

These epic birds are elusive. They’re difficult to view in the wild.

You have to do a longer expedition journey in the Weddell Sea or Ross Sea, or choose an Antarctic voyage specifically focused on visiting the Emperor penguin colony at Snow Hill Island in the Weddell Sea (using helicopters from your ship to land on the island).

A waddle of Emperor penguins and chicks
A waddle of Emperor penguins and chicks

Emperor penguins are the only type of penguin that nests during the winter.

And like King penguins, they’re dedicated parents. But instead of sharing incubation duty, like the Kings, the dad does it all.

He incubates the egg laid by his partner after mating (the egg rests on his feet the whole time), while she goes off into the sea to fish and feed.

In the depths of the Antarctic winter, where temperatures drop to a bitter -40 C, he huddles for two months with other nearby males to keep warm – waiting for the egg to hatch. And during this time, he doesn’t eat at all!

Then when the egg hatches, the mom returns to look after chick, and the dad can finally go off and feed.

Emperor penguins live to be about 15 to 20 years old.

7 Fun Antarctica penguin facts to amaze your friends

Antarctica Penguins
Antarctica penguins having penguin fun

Let’s get to know our cold-weather friends better with these fun facts about Antarctic penguins:

  1. A group of penguins in the ocean? It’s called a raft. On land, they’re known as a waddle. Cute, right?
  2. Penguins can drink saltwater – special glands help them remove the salt from ocean water they swallow while eating.
  3. How do penguins travel downhill? Most Antarctic species “toboggan” on their tummies, sliding headfirst down icy slopes – way faster than waddling!
  4. Smaller penguins bounce! Thanks to their built-in blubber padding, they literally bounce onto rocks after getting tossed ashore by waves.
  5. Emperor penguins are deep divers – they can stay underwater for around 20 minutes when hunting for food.
  6. Penguin poo (technically “guano”) is really pungent – be prepared if you’re fortunate enough to visit Antarctica!
  7. To woo females, male penguins give them small rocks, which are used for building nests. (Don’t try this back home. Diamond engagement rings are still the standard.)

FAQs about the penguins of Antarctica

Do all penguins live in Antarctica?

Nope! While Antarctica is home to many penguin species, not all penguins live there. Some live in places like South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina, and even the Galapagos Islands near the equator.

What’s the largest penguin species?

That crown goes to the Emperor penguin. These regal birds can reach up to 4 feet tall and weigh around 90 pounds.

What’s the smallest Antarctic penguin?

Among Antarctic species, the Adelie penguin is the smallest. But the tiniest penguin in the world? That’s the Little Blue penguin, found in Australia and New Zealand.

Do penguins mate for life?

Some do! Gentoo penguins often return to the same mate year after year. Many species are seasonally monogamous – sticking with one partner for the breeding season.

Why do penguins waddle?

It’s the most energy-efficient way for them to move on land, thanks to their short legs and rounded bodies.

Can you touch penguins in Antarctica?

No – visitors are required to keep a respectful distance (usually 15 feet or 5 meters). But the penguins don’t follow the rules… they sometimes waddle right up to you!

What do penguins eat?

Mostly fish, krill, and squid – seafood lovers, through and through.

Ready to waddle off into the world of penguins?

Adelie penguins in Antarctica
A whole lot of Adelie penguins going for a stroll

Armed with your new penguin knowledge, you’re all set to wow your friends at trivia night – or maybe even inspire your own penguin-spotting adventure on an Antarctic expedition cruise.

As for us? If we’re lucky enough to return to Antarctica (turning our once-in-a-lifetime trip into a twice-in-a-lifetime adventure!), we’ve got our sights set on South Georgia – home to the royal King penguins. Now that’s a penguin parade we’d love to see!


Pssst! You can save this post on Antarctica penguin types for later on Pinterest

Types of penguins in Antarctica

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About the authors

Janice and George Mucalov are award-winning travel journalists who’ve explored all seven continents. They share destination guidesluxury hotel reviewscultural adventurescruise insightstravel tips and more on their luxury travel blog, Sand In My Suitcase. See About.

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18 Comments

  1. I am a big fan of penguins. Great information!

    Like you, I have seen all the Antarctic penguins except the Emperor.

    I really loved the Falkland Islands. On one particular day in the Falklands, I saw five different kinds of penguins in the same day!

    One correction to this article, though… You say “Other penguins are found in Argentina, Australia and Chile.” What about the Galapagos penguin, which lives in Ecuador? (And the Galapagos penguin sometimes ventures to the other side of the equator, which is technically the Northern Hemisphere. But that’s quibbling.)

    Anyway, your photos and explanations are excellent.

    Thank you for spreading the word about needing to protect these delightful birds.

    1. Hi Cathy,

      Sounds like you had a fabulous time watching penguins in the Falklands – how wonderful!

      And thanks for pointing out the Galapagos penguin. We’ll tweak our article to include mention of these penguins too :-).

  2. Love these photos, Antarctica is amazing. I’ve been lucky enough to see some King Penguins in the wild… Would love to see some of these other penguins too.

  3. I’m trying so hard not to be jealous right now! :) Penguins are my favorite, and I would LOVE to take a trip and see them in person. I have this overwhelming urge to hug the one in the first photo, but my guess is they don’t allow that on the expeditions, huh? ;)

    1. The rules for penguin viewing were that we had to give way to them at “penguin crossings.” We couldn’t get too close to them either. But if we plonked ourselves down on the snowy ground, they would waddle over to us, sometimes tripping over our legs. Inquisitive little creatures! (We didn’t try to hug them :-).

  4. What a fantastic experience. Even though I try to avoid travel to the frozen parts of the earth, seeing the penguins live would be a dream trip.

  5. Great photos! I didn’t realize there are so many different types of penguins in Antarctica. All of them are adorable. Antarctica is a place I am longing to see!

    1. Janice didn’t think Antarctica would blow her away as much as it did. It’s a mind-boggling place…

  6. Oh my gosh, these penguins are just so darn cute! I would love to see them in their natural habitat like this.

  7. Even though I am a tropical girl, I would bundle up in a minute to be able to see and photograph these adorable creatures! You got some fantastic pix. Who isn’t infatuated with penguins? I recently watched March of the Penguins again and fell in love with them all over again. What a privilege to be so close to them in their natural habitat instead of a zoo!

    1. Yes, it was a privilege. And you can’t help but love the little critters. We spent hours just sitting on the snowy ground watching them waddle about. The penguins would come right up to us and almost poke their beaks into our camera lenses.