Loving the snow

Yikes, sorry - that's bright on the eyes, especially the "blown-out" part! I usually end up getting my photos ready for Flickr very late at night/early hours of the morning, and this picture didn't look as bright then as it does this morning, ha. Photographed this King Penguin at the Calgary Zoo on 6 December 2012. Later: decided to crop the image, thus getting rid of a bit of the blown-out chest.

The Zoo has four species of Penguin - Gentoo, King, Humboldt, and Rockhopper. They are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums penguin species survival plan.

The 46 penguins came from zoos in Quebec, Texas, New York and Washington states and Scotland. There are 8 King Penguins, 23 Gentoo Penguins, 10 Humboldt Penguins and 5 Rockhopper Penguins. The IUCN Red List states:

King Penguins - Least Concern
Humboldt Penguins - Vulnerable
Gentoo Penguins - Near Threatened
Rockhopper Penguins - Vulnerable

"The King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) is the second largest species of penguin at about 11 to 16 kg (24 to 35 lb), second only to the Emperor Penguin. There are two subspecies—A. p. patagonicus and A. p. halli; patagonicus is found in the South Atlantic and halli elsewhere.

King Penguins eat small fish, mainly lanternfish, and squid and rely less than most Southern Ocean predators on krill and other crustaceans. On foraging trips they repeatedly dive to over 100 metres (330 ft), often over 200 metres (660 ft).

King Penguins breed on the subantarctic islands at the northern reaches of Antarctica, South Georgia, and other temperate islands of the region. The total population is estimated to be 2.23 million pairs and is increasing."

storage.canoe.ca/v1/suns-prod-images/file/1297237247336_C...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Penguin

Link to article about fossilised giant penguin bones which lived 27-24 million years ago:
www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1138465--giant-penguin...