Two adult Emperor Penguins with a juvenile on Snow Hill Island, Antarctica.

🐧

Photo: Ian Duffy · CC BY 2.0

SpeciesSphenisciformesSpheniscidae

Birds

🐧Emperor penguin

Aptenodytes forsteri G.R.Gray, 1844

Пінгві́н імпера́торський (Aptenodytes forsteri) — вид птахів роду Королівський пінгвін, найбільший птах родини пінгвінових.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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153

Photos

Measurements

vs you

≈ half your weight

Conservation status

NTNear threatened

IUCN Red List assessment, 2020.

Population trendDecreasing

Key measurements

Body mass: 34 kg
Body length: 1.15 m
Shoulder height: not recorded
Top speed: not recorded
Bite force: not recorded
Maximum lifespan: not recorded

All measurements ↓

Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Emperor penguin

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass

34 kgrecord 33 kg · SeaLifeBase

AVONET

Other figures ↓

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

30 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: low

Body length

1.15 mmaximum recorded, total length

SeaLifeBase

Details ↓

Source: SeaLifeBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Standing height

1.17 m1.01–1.32 m · typical rangenot stated

Details ↓

"Emperor penguins are the largest sea birds in the Antarctic, standing 101 to 132 cm tall." Range-only; value is the midpoint. ADW's own length field carries the same 101-132 cm, so the standing-height wording is ADW's; Antarctic agency pages (AAD, BAS) checked and state weight but no height.

Source: Wilber 2020, Animal Diversity Web account: Aptenodytes forsteri, https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Aptenodytes_forsteri/ · see citation

Tail length

0.12 m

AVONET

Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length

0.18 m

AVONET

Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length

0.09 m

AVONET

Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length

0.05 m

AVONET

Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Trophic level

Carnivore

AVONET

Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat

Marine

AVONET

Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle

Aquatic

AVONET

Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l

34 Laverage

Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Emperor penguin yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force, maximum lifespan.

Where it sits

Family tree

Full lineage

All 12 branches ↓

kingdomMetazoa
phylumChordata
subphylumCraniata
subphylumVertebrata
superclassGnathostomata
superclassSarcopterygii
superclassTetrapoda
orderSauria
classBirds · Aves
orderPenguins · Sphenisciformes
familySpheniscidae
genusAptenodytes

More about the Emperor penguin

Closest relative on this site

🦩 Great White Pelican — last shared an ancestor ≈ 66 million years ago.

In other languages

pingwin cesarski (pl), Aptenodytes forsteri (es), császárpingvin (hu), kejsarpingvin (sv), keizerspinguïn (nl), بطريق إمبراطور (ar) … and 27 more languages

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