Chordata · chordates

Emperor penguin

Aptenodytes forsteri

Spheniscidae · penguinsIUCN: Near Threatened
Emperor penguin
Photo: Ian Duffy from UK · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized

The largest penguin, breeding on sea ice through the Antarctic winter.

Fun factMales balance the egg on their feet for 65 to 75 days and may go about four months without eating.

Waters
Southern Ocean
Depth zone
Open-ocean surface waters, Coastal shallows & estuaries
Diet
Fish, krill & squid
Size
Up to 1.3 m tall

Classification

Chordata › Reptilia › Sphenisciformes › Spheniscidae

  1. Kingdom Animalia animals
    • Many-celled organisms that eat other living things for energy (heterotrophs)
    • Cells have no cell walls
    • Most can move at some stage of life
  2. Clade Bilateria bilateral animals
    • Body has a left and right side that mirror each other (bilateral symmetry)
    • Head end with concentrated nerves; three tissue layers
    • Includes about 99% of all living animal species
  3. Clade Deuterostomia deuterostomes
    • In the embryo, the first opening becomes the anus and the mouth forms second
    • Includes echinoderms and chordates
  4. Phylum Chordata chordates
    • At some stage of life: a stiffening rod along the back (notochord)
    • A hollow nerve cord along the back (dorsal)
    • Slits in the throat (pharyngeal slits) and a tail past the anus
  5. Subphylum Vertebrata vertebrates
    • A skull (cranium) protecting a brain
    • Backbone or similar support around the nerve cord
    • Includes fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals
  6. Infraphylum Gnathostomata jawed vertebrates
    • Jawed vertebrates: jaws formed from gill arches
    • Paired fins or limbs
    • Includes all fishes except hagfish and lampreys, plus all tetrapods
  7. Superclass Osteichthyes bony vertebrates
    • Bony vertebrates: skeleton made largely of bone
    • Most have a lung or swim bladder
    • Includes ray-finned and lobe-finned fishes and all tetrapods
  8. Clade Sarcopterygii lobe-finned vertebrates
    • Lobe-finned: fleshy fins with bones like those of limbs
    • Includes coelacanths, lungfishes, and all tetrapods
  9. Clade Tetrapoda four-limbed vertebrates
    • Four limbs with fingers and toes (or descended from animals that had them)
    • Breathe air with lungs
  10. Class Reptilia reptiles (birds included)
    • Scaly skin made of keratin
    • Lay shelled eggs on land or carry eggs inside the body (amniotic egg)
    • In modern classification this group includes birds
  11. Clade Archosauria crocodilians & birds
    • Includes crocodilians, birds, and extinct dinosaurs and pterosaurs
    • Birds and crocodilians share a four-chambered heart and a muscular gizzard
  12. Class Aves birds
    • Birds: feathers
    • Toothless beak
    • Lay hard-shelled eggs; warm-blooded
  13. Clade Aequornithes core waterbirds
    • Core waterbirds: penguins, tubenoses, gannets, pelicans, herons, and loons
  14. Order Sphenisciformes penguins
    • Penguins: flightless, with wings shaped into stiff flippers
    • Upright posture and dense, waterproof feathers
  15. Family Spheniscidae penguins
    • All living penguins; almost all live in the Southern Hemisphere
  16. Genus Aptenodytes
    • Species in the same genus are very close relatives and often look alike.
  17. Species Aptenodytes forsteri Emperor penguin

Closest relatives in the guide