Gentoo Penguins Take Care of 2nd Puppies

The breeding colonies of gentoo penguins are located on ice-free surfaces. Colonies can be located directly on the shoreline or considerably inland. They prefer shallow coastal areas and often nest between tufts of grass. In South Georgia, for example, breeding colonies are 2 km inland. In colonies farther inland, where the penguins nest in grassy areas, they shift location slightly every year because the grass becomes trampled over time.

Gentoos breed on many subantarctic islands. The main colonies are on the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and Kerguelen Islands; smaller colonies are found on: Macquarie Island, Heard Islands, Crozet Islands, South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. The total breeding population is estimated to be over 600,000 birds. Gentoos breed monogamously and infidelity is typically punished with banishment from the colony.[23] Nests are usually made from a roughly circular pile of stones and can be quite large, 20 cm (7.9 in) high and 25 cm (9.8 in) in diameter. The stones are jealously guarded, and their ownership can be the subject of noisy disputes and physical attacks between individuals. They are also prized by the females, even to the point that a male penguin can obtain the favors of a female by offering her a choice stone.

Two eggs are laid, both weighing around 130 g (4.6 oz). The parents share incubation, changing duty daily. The eggs hatch after 34 to 36 days. The chicks remain in the nests for around 30 days before joining other chicks in the colony and forming crèches. The chicks molt into subadult plumage and go out to sea at around 80 to 100 days.