Penguins are part of the marine food chain. Today, they dine on fish, squid and krill. Different species have different preferences, and diets may also change between breeding and non-breeding months when some penguins change the average distance they travel from shore.
Penguins in the Food Chain. Penguins are part of the marine food chain. Today, they dine on fish, squid and krill. Different species have different preferences, and diets may also change between breeding and non-breeding months when some penguins change the average distance they travel from shore.
Young penguins are preyed upon by sheathbills, caracaras (falcons), kelp gulls, giant petrels and feral cats, while older birds are taken by leopard seals. Nests are often flattened by indifferent elephant seals as they move about the colonies.
So, what do gentoo penguins eat?
Here is what we discovered. gentoo penguins are opportunistic feeders and around the Falklands are known to take roughly equal proportions of fish, crustaceans and squid. Gentoo Penguins live mainly on crustaceans such as krill, with fish making up only about 15% of the diet.
Sharks and sea lions are two major penguin predators today, but the remains of a blubbery penguin get utilized by all sorts of small critters as well, once they hit the seafloor.
What animals are in the food chain in the ocean?
This level of the food chain also includes larger animals, such as octopuses (which feed on crabs and lobsters) and many fish (which feed on small invertebrates that live near shore). Though these animals are very successful hunters, they often fall prey to a simple fact of ocean life: big fish eat smaller fish.
In the Antarctic food chain krill are primary consumers and baleen whales, penguins, seals and many kinds of fish and other birds are secondary consumers when feeding on krill. Many animals are a mixture of primary, secondary, tertiary (3rd) and quaternary (4th) consumers as they eat a variety of prey.
What kind of bones do penguins have?
A bite-marked fossil penguin bone. Argentina is home to several penguin species today, and in the Miocene the most common type of penguin was Palaeospheniscus, an average sized penguin taxon with a fairly modern skeleton.