Image courtesy of Jean Pennycook

From: Jean Pennycook
Cape Royds, December 26, 2006

Discovering What Penguins Eat

One question everyone asks, is “What do penguins eat?” Since we cannot be out in the ocean to watch them feed, we have to determine this information a different way. Long ago, scientists would kill an animal and examine the stomach contents to find out. We do it a different way here. The pink substance in this picture is left over chick food that the parent has regurgitated. The pink coloring indicates the penguin has been eating krill. If it were gray, that would indicate fish. As the season progresses their diets may change. Analyzing penguin throw-up is always a fun task here in the colony.

Penguin Science

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Postcards from the Field: Antarctica

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