CHICK-FEEDING RATES OF MACARONI AND ROCKHOPPER PENGUINS AT MARION ISLAND

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Abstract
Williams, A. J. 1982. Chick-feeding rates of Macaroni and Rockhopper Penguins at Marion Island. Ostrich 53A29-134. The chick-rearing period of both Macaroni Penguins Eudyptes chrysolophus and Rockhopper Penguins E. chrysocome at Marion Island was 70 days. In this period chicks of both species each received approximately 30 meals, each meal representing one parental foraging trip. Female parents made 22 foraging trips, including all trips in the first 30 days after the chick hatched, and male parents made eight trips. The chicks fasted between meals and in both species 50% of fasts lasted 24–48 h and 93% lasted less than 96 h. The duration of fasts changed in the course of chick-rearing but the pattern of fasting was remarkably similar in the two species. Maximum weight increases following a meal were 0,65 kg in Rockhopper and 2.0 kg in Macaroni Penguin chicks. The estimated total amount of food received by individual chicks during the entire chick-rearing period was 15 kg in Rockhopper and 33 kg in Macaroni Penguins. An estimated 8 800 tonnes of krill is required to feed the annual production of chicks of these two species at Marion Island.