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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re going to be looking at the chinstrap penguin. If you like learning facts about animals then subscribe to this channel so you can stay up to date on all the new content.

Chinstrap penguins are the most populous of the 17 recognized penguin species in the world today. It’s guessed that their numbers are greater than 15 million individuals with more than 7 million mating pairs. In other words, there are more chinstrap penguins in the world than there are people in 46 of the 50 United States. In other other words, that’s a lotta penguins! They live inside the Antarctic Peninsula and also inhabit many antarctic and subantarctic islands with their greatest populations on the South Orkney, Shetland and Sandwich Islands. Antarctic 1 - Everywhere else - 21... From March through October chinstraps will spend time in the open ocean and north of winter’s pack ice - for reference, midwinter in antarctica is usually around June. During Antarctica's summer months from November to February, chinstrap penguins will head to their breeding grounds, usually returning almost exactly to the same nest they used the year prior.

Male chinstrap penguins will help in constructing the nest using pebbles. The nest is important in helping keep the eggs and eventually the chicks off the wet ground. The females will almost always lay two eggs and both parents will take turns in incubating them. The eggs usually hatch a month later and the young chicks will stay on the nest for another month being fed by either parent returning from a hunting trip. The parents usually return with more than half a pound of krill for the chicks to eat. That’s like almost 4 cans of Fancy Feast!

A month after hatching they usually have developed enough to live without the warmth and protection of one of their parents and the chicks will all stay together in a large group called a creche. In this group, all the young penguins will huddle for warmth and protection while their parents go hunt. It’s about a month later that all the penguins, new ones included, will make their migration, the young taking to the sea for the first time. The young penguins will reach sexual maturity around three years of age and they can live up to twenty years.

While at sea, the main meal of chinstrap penguins is krill. They will occasionally eat shrimp and fish but krill is their number one food source. They’ll dive to depths of over 200 feet at speeds of nearly 20 miles per hour to find food. Their main enemy is the leopard seal but they are also consumed by orcas and even sharks.

Chinstrap penguins backs, beaks and the top section of their wings appear blue-black in color and they have white bellies and faces. Their feet are usually pink on the top and black on the bottom and their eyes are red. The characteristic from which their name is derived is the thin black line running from ear to ear across the penguin’s chin. They kind of look like they’re wearing a helmet! They are also known as ringed and bearded penguins. Another distinct feature is the chinstrap penguin’s white face. The royal penguin is the only other species of penguin that sports a white face as opposed to the typical black seen on all other species’. Chinstrap penguins stand at about 25 inches tall and weigh anywhere from 7 to 14 pounds depending on the time of year. Males and females look almost identical and there aren’t many size variations between the two.

Apparently these penguins are not the kind you want to mess with, either. It’s been documented by several individuals that chinstrap penguins are among the most aggressive of penguin species’ and will even try to overtake neighboring Adele penguin colonies if the opportunity arises. I mean, I would probably run too if I saw this coming at me...

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