News in Brief Animals

With one island’s losses, the king penguin species shrinks by a third

It’s unclear what has happened to what was the largest of king penguin colonies in the 1980s

king penguins taken in 1982

WHEN KINGS RULED  The largest colony of king penguins (shown in 1982) once had some 500,000 pairs of breeding birds a season, but recently discovered losses are so big they could affect the species’ total population.

J.C. Stahl

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

What was once the king of the king penguin colonies has lost 85 percent or more of its big showy birds since the 1980s, a drop perhaps big enough to shrink the whole species population by a third.