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Lifespan or longevity
It is not easy to answer the question: "How long does a penguin live?" or "What is the life expectancy of a penguin?".
To answer such question, it takes a long term study of thousands of penguins. You have to band them and follow them for several years. As lots of chicks die in their infancy or during the first years of live, it still makes a guess at an average age of a penguin.First of all I want to thank Barry Benefield, pengophile [his made up word for penguin lover], oklahoman, lawyer for poor people and indians and member of the Yahoo club Penguin Paradise who sent me his results to this question.
Before trying to give some specific values, I first want to cite some general remarks:
"The average lifespan of penguins is probably 15 to 20 years. Some individuals live considerably longer (Sparks and Soper, 1987)."
(Source: Longevity and causes of death : Seaworld)"Penguins in captivity will live longer than penguins in the wild since they are fed nutrionally balanced meals and do not have to contend with predators. Generally, penguins will live from 15 to 20 years. A female Humboldt penguin in my study group (in captivity) lived to 17 years."
(Source: Kevin Welch)"How long do penguins live? In the wild there haven't been any reliable long term studies of individual penguins that can tell how long they live. The only such study was carried out in the 1940's and 50's by Lance Richdale in New Zealand. He monitored a population of Yellow-eyed penguins over a 15 year period. Certainly there were some chicks that he saw hatch that survived through most of the study; so it is reasonable to put the lifespan of Yellow-eyed penguins at 15 years or more. The only other information comes from studies on captive birds. Zoos and aquaria often know how old their birds are when they die. However, the common causes of death in captivity (Avian Malaria and Aspergillosis) are not particularly prevalent in the wild so the experiences with captive birds are probably under-estimates. On the other hand the captive birds will not suffer starvation if fish stocks go down suddenly and they have no predators (such as leopard seals and killer whales) to kill them. Anyway, zoos reckon birds live 10 to 20 years depending on species, with the larger species generally being longer lived."
(Source: Pete and Barbara's penguin page FAQ's)"The oldest known penguins are about 20 years old. Most penguins don't get that old however. Less than half of all chicks live through their first year of life and about 90% of the adult penguins live from one year to the next. The average age of a penguin that shows up at Palmer to breed is probably around 6 or 7 years old."
(Source: ANSWER to "Penguin's life span" from John Carlson, Research Assistant, Dr. Fraser's Team,
Palmer Station, Antarctica, Sat, 15 Feb 1997, NASA)Now I will try to give some specific information for each species, including the source from where I found it.
When I should violate against copyright, please let me know and I will remove or change it.
Emperor 20 years of age. Penguins around the world NASA: oldest living was 50 years. King 10 - 20 years Falklands Conservation -
Adélie oldest known is 20 years NASA - until 11 years or older Penguin Biology - Gentoo 15 to 20 years Animal Diversity Web - 15 years Welt der Pinguine - 4 - 7 years only Falklands Conservation - Chinstrap - - -
African Average 10-11 years. max. 24 years Phil Hockey In the Zoo of Rotterdam, one is 34 years old (July 2000) 10 - 11 years Cape Metropolitan Council two records of birds being 24 years of age Humboldt - Kevin Welch In captivity: 17 years Approximately 20 years in the wild Woodland ParkZoo up to 30 years at zoos 12 years Roger Williams ParkZoo Up to 20 years Magellan 7 - 16 years Falklands Conservation - Galapagos - Dee Boersma more than 10 years
Macaroni unknown in the wild Cleveland Metroparks up to 30 years in captivity 8 - 15 years Falklands Conservation - Fjordland - - - Erect crested - - - Snares penguin - - - Royal 5 to 11 year Penguin Biology - Rockhopper 10 years Animal Diversity Web - 6 - 10 years Falklands Conservation -
Yellow-eyed up to 23 years Dave Houston - between 2 and 16 years Penguin Biology -
Fairy little blue Individuals can reach up to 25 years of age. Dave Houston - 7 years Gabo Count - 6 years Tasmanian Adventures 21 years recorded 7 years Phillip Island Nature Park Oldest there is 25 years
Sources
- "Emperor penguins can mate when they are 4 years old and can live to be 20 years of age."
(Source: Penguins around the world)
Back to tabel- "If a penguin can survive infancy and its first years of life, it has a pretty good chance of living a fairly long life. Many penguin biologists have banded thousands and thousands of penguins and then followed which ones come to the colonies year after year. This is how we can guess at the average age of a penguin. The oldest known Adelie penguin living in the wild was 20 years old, and the big Emperor Penguins might live to as long as 50 years. If an Adelie penguins begins to breed early, say at 3 or 4 years of age, it is less likely to live to be 15 or 20 years old than if it waits until it is 7 or 8 years old to breed for the first time."
(Source: ANSWER to "Antarctic penguin's life expectancy" from Carol Vleck, Research Assistant, Dr. Fraser's Team, Palmer Station, Antarctica, Fri, 7 Feb 1997, NASA)
Back to tabel- "Gentoo: Their average lifespan is from 15 to 20 years."
(Source: Animal Diversity Web, based on the book "Penguins from Roger Tory Peterson, 1979)
Back to tabel- "...Eselspinguin. In der freie Natur werden die Tiere ungefähr 15 Jahre alt."
Translated: "...Gentoo. In the wild these animals reach an age of about 15 years."
(Source: p.52 of the book "Die Welt der Pinguine", written by Prof. Culik and Prof. Wilson)
Back to tabel- "African Lifespan: average 10-11 years, maximum 24 years."
(Source: p.6 of the book "The African penguin - a natural history" by Phil Hockey)
Back to tabel- "African Lifespan: 10 - 11 years, two records of birds being 24 years of age."
(Source: Cape Metropolitan Council)
Back to tabel- "Penguins in captivity will live longer than penguins in the wild since they are fed nutrionally balanced meals and do not have to contend with predators. Generally, penguins will live from 15 to 20 years. A female Humboldt penguin in my study group (in captivity) lived to 17 years."
(Source: Kevin Welch)
Back to tabel- "Humboldt: Life Span Approximately 20 years in the wild; up to 30 years at zoos."
(Source: Woodland Park Zoo)
Back to tabel- "Humboldt : How long? The lifespan of penguins is 12 years (up to 20 years in captivity). "
(Source: Roger Williams Park Zoo)
Back to tabel- "Galapagos : I know of one wild bird that was more than 10 years of age. He was banded in the 1960's and I found him 11 years later. "
(Source: Answer from Dee Boersma to my E-mail)
Back to tabel- "Richsdale's (1957) study of the yellow-eyed penguin covered 16 breeding seasons and reported no change in mortality rates for penguins between 2 and 16 years;...
For the Adelie penguin Ainley and de Master (1980) analyzed recoveries from more than 10000 chicks banded over 8 years at Ross Island, Antarctica. They reported that, for breeding birds, mortality decreased from 3 or 4 until 11 years or older. Among mature birds there was some nonbreeding, especially among males, and for those nonbreeders mortality was lower than for breeders, the difference being attributed to reduced risk of exposure to predation by leopard seals lurking at the seaward edge of the colony. Ainley et al. (1983) reanalyzed much of the same data and apparently repudiated many of the earlier conclusions regarding changes in mortality with age. While accepting that breeding imposes an added risk to survival, their definitive model assumes annual mortality is constant at 10,6 % from age 2 on.
For the royal penguin, Carrick (1972) reported that 5- to 11-year old breeders experienced an annual mortality of 20 % compared with 17 % for the nonbreeders. "
(Source: p.79 of the book "Penguin biology", written by Lloyd S. Davis and John T. Darby)
Back to tabel- "Macaroni Lifespan: Unknown in the wild; up to 30 years in captivity. "
(Source: Cleveland Metroparks)
Back to tabel- "The average lifespan of a Rockhopper Penguin is 10 years."
(Source: Animal Diversity Web)
Back to tabel- "It is difficult to find the right answers as there is no local detailed studies of Penguins demography in the Falklands. To estimate lifespan you have to determine survival rate of birds. The only known way to do so was by ringing birds. However, this practise has been abandoned for penguins as rings affect their own survival. From what has been published in studies around the world of penguins, your figures are not far off the mark:
King Penguin: 10 to 20 years
Gentoo: 4 to 7 years only
Macaroni: 8 to 15 years
Rockhopper: 6 to 10 years
Magellanic: 7 to 16 years."
(Source: Nic Huin (thanks) at Falklands Conservation in answer to my email)
Back to tabel- "First breeding occurs at 3-4 years of age and long term partnerships are formed. Yellow-eyed penguins may live for up to 23 years."
(Source: Dave Houston)
Back to tabel- "Fairy little blue: Adults weigh about a kilogram, grow to a height of 40 cm and live, on average, 6 years. In one instance, an age of 21 years has been recorded."
(Source: Tasmanian Adventures)
Back to tabel- "Blue penguins usually breed for the first time at 2-3 years of age. Long term partnerships are the norm, but divorce is not uncommon. There is a high rate of juvenile mortality, but individuals can reach up to 25 years of age. "
(Source: Dave Houston)
Back to tabel- "Fairy penguins live on average for 7 years, and some retain the same mate for life."
(Source: Gabo count, based on the book "Little Penguin: Fairy Penguins in Australia" of Colin Stahel and Rosemary Gales, New South Wales University Press, 1987)
Back to tabel- "The average age a Little Penguin lives is said to be 7 years. However we have one banded Little Penguin in our colony that is now 25 years old. "
(Source: Answer from Phillip Island Nature Park to my e-mail)
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