Most of the world's penguin species (about seventeen) occur in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions where, in many parts of which they account for 80% of the bird biomass. Unlikely as it may seem, they are closely related to albatrosses and petrels.

Eight species are found within the areas we visited: King, Gentoo, Chinstrap, Adelie, Macaroni, Magellan, Rockhopper and -- occasionally -- the Emperor Penguin. Of these we saw the first six. But the quantitative winner (and perhaps the qualitative, depending on your point of view) was the King Penguin, of which there are believed to be about 2.25 million pairs in the sub-Antarctic (it never reaches the Antarctic itself).

The King Penguin breeds primarily on South Georgia, Heard and Macquarie plus a few other sub-Antarctic islands. Because they must feed their chicks for a year after hatching, Kings can only breed successfully twice in three years, and there are two breeding cycles. Because of this a complex mix of birds at various stages of the life cycle can be seen at colonies such as those on South Georgia. The chicks have a dark brown down and when moulting into juvenile plumage acquire a bizarre appearance as some of these photos show. The colonies are very noisy with adults trumpeting loudly and chicks whistly for their parents and for food.