Tab.1: Tabulation of pinguin population within the Antarctic Peninsula region

Six species of penguins breed on the Antarctic continent, the Antarctic Peninsula, the South Shetland and South Orkney Islands. Their breeding populations within the Antarctic Peninsula, and the South Orkney and South Shetland Is., and estimates of global populations are given. Typical breeding seasons are also presented, but it must be noted that these will vary inter-annually and intra-annually under the influence of factors such as sea-ice extent and ENSO (interannual) and the location of each breeding colony (southerly localities will be later than northerly localities, as their breeding season is "compressed" within the shorter summer). Their foraging strategies (categorized as near-shore or offshore) and typical durations of foraging trips are also tabulated. As with breeding season events, foraging behaviour will vary intra-seasonally and inter-seasonally (in terms of dive duration, dive depth, foraging location, etc). The distribution of known penguin breeding colonies is circum-continental, with Emperor and Adelie penguins predominant on approximately 75 % of the coast, with two major concentrations in the Ross Sea and in Prydz Bay. The third concentration is in the Antarctic Peninsula region, where some of the largest penguin colonies are present. All six species breed within the area (predominantly Chinstrap Penguins), and the Peninsula region has a greater diversity than the remainder ofthe Antarctic with respect to penguins. The distribution at sea of nonbreeding penguins is less cIear. Non-breeding individuals of all six species move throughout the Southern Ocean, and in many cases, to areas well north of the winter pack-ice zone. However, it is not possible to estimate densities of penguins at sea as there are no estimates of non-breeding penguin populations the extent of their travels.