Nutrient reserve storage, energetics, and food consumption during the prebreeding and premoulting foraging periods of king penguins

Abstract

Nutrient reserve storage during the prefasting foraging trips of king penguins Aptenodytes patagonicus was investigated by measuring body composition at the beginning and the end of the prebreeding and premoulting periods at sea. Both periods were marked by a 45–47% increase in body mass (4.6 and 5.6 kg during the prebreeding and premoulting trips, respectively) including body water (31% and 55% of the total increase in body mass), protein (13% and 16%) and lipid (46% and 23%), but not ash. Fat accretion accounted for most of the energy stored (86% and 71% versus 14% and 29% for protein) and it was mainly located in the subdermal depot, the larger increase in body protein occurring in pectoral muscles. Daily mass gain was lower during the prebreeding foraging trip than during the premoulting one (195 versus 328 g/day), while there was no difference in the rate of energy storage (4,097 and 4,155 kJ/day). The total energy costs of the foraging periods were calculated to be 381 and 315 MJ during the prebreeding and premoulting trips respectively, which corresponded to a 70-kg and a 58-kg food intake. The consumption of marine resources by the king penguin population from Crozet Islands was estimated to be 166,000 tons in spring/summer during the two foraging periods preceding long-term fasts.