What the sources say
Chinstrap PenguinPygoscelis antarcticus
Every figure, record and mechanism on the Chinstrap Penguin profile was written from a source, and this is the working table behind it: 45 claims checked word for word against these sources. The left column is what the page says. The right column is the source's own words, copied, not paraphrased; a ... marks a cut and[brackets] an insertion. Open any source and check it yourself.
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Source
01
Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan
Pygoscelis antarcticus (chinstrap penguin). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.
- The page saysat about 72 centimeters tall
- The source says
They stand about 72 cm tall and weigh about 3.5 to 5 kg.
- The page saysRoughly 95 percent of its diet is krill, topped up with small fish and other crustaceans
- The source says
The Chinstrap's diet is quite simple and consists of small shoaling animals: krill, small fish and other roaming marine crustacea. Chinstrap penguins' prey is 95% krill and about 5% of the other species mentioned
- The page saysMostly krill (about 95% of the diet), plus small fish and other crustaceans
- The source says
The Chinstrap's diet is quite simple and consists of small shoaling animals: krill, small fish and other roaming marine crustacea. Chinstrap penguins' prey is 95% krill and about 5% of the other species mentioned
Note: stats.diet - The page saysincluding the South Shetlands, South Orkneys and South Sandwich Islands
- The source says
Mainly, you find them on the South Shetland Islands, South Orkney Island and South Sandwich
Note: the island list, also used in stats.habitat - The page saysmales pump their chests and screech during courtship, and territorial disputes bring stares, pointing and charging.
- The source says
Stares, pointing and even charging occur when the Chinstraps have territorial disputes. During courtship and mating rituals the male Chinstrap penguin communicates through pumping his chest several times ... He then emits a harsh loud screeching sound
- The page saysThe stone nests are typically about 40 centimeters across.
- The source says
roughly circular consisting of stones and are typically 40 cm in diameter
Note: the source adds that the nests are built on icebergs, which the page does not repeat
Source
02
Australian Antarctic Program
Chinstrap penguin. Australian Antarctic Program.
- The page says3.5 to 5.5 kilograms
- The source says
Adult chinstraps weigh 3.5 to 5.5 kg.
Note: AAP (updated 2024) is used over ADW's older 3.5-5 kg (page dated 2001) per docs/fact-check.md's 'check the date' rule - The page saysthe chinstrap is closely related to the Adélie and gentoo penguins, and roughly the same size as the Adélie
- The source says
The chinstrap penguin is closely related to two other penguins, the gentoo (Pygoscelis papua) and the Adelie (Pygoscelis adeliae). Chinstraps are a similar size to Adelies.
- The page sayscaught on pursuit dives that use its flippers to "fly" through the water
- The source says
They catch prey by pursuit-diving, using their flippers to 'fly' through the water.
- The page saysFeeding dives generally stay shallow, under 40 meters, and tend to run deeper in daylight than at night
- The source says
They generally feed in the ocean at depths of less than 40 metres, diving deeper in the daytime than at night.
- The page saysLeopard seals are the main danger in the water, while on land sheathbills, skuas and southern giant petrels take chicks and eggs.
- The source says
Leopard seals are the chinstrap's main predator at sea. On land, sheathbills, skuas and southern giant petrels take chicks and eggs.
- The page saysChinstraps breed mainly on snow and ice-free ground on the Antarctic Peninsula and on islands in the South Atlantic
- The source says
Chinstrap penguins breed mainly on the Antarctic Peninsula and on islands in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Note: 'snow and ice-free ground' is global-2020's term for a breeding site; the island list is claimed separately from ADW - The page saysChinstraps often toboggan on land, lying flat on their bellies, and they climb using all four limbs, jumping large distances between footholds.
- The source says
Chinstrap penguins often toboggan on land - lying on their stomachs, propelling themselves by their feet, and using their flippers. They climb using all four limbs and are able to jump large distances to reach footholds.
Note: the source lists tobogganing and climbing as separate behaviours, so the page states no sequence or purpose - The page saysPairs share incubation of two eggs in shifts of five to ten days at first, and chicks fledge at about seven to eight weeks.
- The source says
laying two eggs in late November ... Both males and females take part in the 33 to 36 day incubation period. Initially shifts last 5 to 10 days ... The chicks fledge at about 7 to 8 weeks.
- The page saysA wild chinstrap can live 16 to 20 years
- The source says
Chinstrap penguins can live to be 16 to 20 years old.
- The page saysThe Australian Antarctic Program links the fall in chinstrap numbers to reductions in krill, their main food.
- The source says
the number of chinstraps is declining significantly due to reductions in krill, their main food
- The page saysThey toboggan on land, lying flat on their bellies and pushing themselves along with their feet and flippers. They also climb using all four limbs, and can jump surprisingly large distances to reach the next foothold.
- The source says
Chinstrap penguins often toboggan on land - lying on their stomachs, propelling themselves by their feet, and using their flippers. They climb using all four limbs and are able to jump large distances to reach footholds.
- The page saysislands in the South Atlantic, including the South Shetlands, South Orkneys and South Sandwich Islands
- The source says
Chinstrap penguins breed mainly on the Antarctic Peninsula and on islands in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Note: stats.habitat reworded to match the body (task #635); the named islands are claimed on the body sentence from Strycker 2020 - The page saysweightKg: 4.5
- The source says
Adult chinstraps weigh 3.5 to 5.5 kg.
Note: midpoint of the AAP range; Light class either way (task #635)
Source
03
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020
Pygoscelis antarcticus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T22697761A184807209.
- The page saysthe species as a whole is Least Concern
- The source says
IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). Pygoscelis antarcticus (Forster, 1781), IUCN taxon 22697761.
- The page saysThe IUCN Red List still rates the species Least Concern
- The source says
IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). Pygoscelis antarcticus (Forster, 1781), IUCN taxon 22697761.
Note: faq 3; the 2020 assessment is the current one
Source
04
Libourel et al. 2023
Libourel et al. (2023). Nesting chinstrap penguins accrue large quantities of sleep through seconds-long microsleeps. Science.
- The page saysThe seabird that nods off more than 10,000 times a day in naps that average four seconds, banking over 11 hours of sleep in each half of its brain while it guards the nest.
- The source says
The penguins nodded off >10,000 times per day, engaging in bouts of bihemispheric and unihemispheric slow-wave sleep lasting on average only 4 seconds, but resulting in the accumulation of >11 hours of sleep for each hemisphere.
Note: tagline; 'each half of its brain' glosses 'each hemisphere' - The page saysMicrosleep architecture: nods off more than 10,000 times a day in naps that average four seconds, banking over 11 hours of sleep in each brain hemisphere while it stands guard against egg-stealing skuas.
- The source says
The penguins nodded off >10,000 times per day, engaging in bouts of bihemispheric and unihemispheric slow-wave sleep lasting on average only 4 seconds, but resulting in the accumulation of >11 hours of sleep for each hemisphere.
Note: stats.superpower; 'egg-stealing skuas' from the body's skua-predation claim, same reference - The page saysInstead of sleeping in one long stretch, a nesting chinstrap penguin takes about three-quarters of its slow-wave sleep in bouts under ten seconds long.
- The source says
the majority (75 %) of SWS was obtained via bouts lasting < 10 s
Note: 'about three-quarters' for '75%' - The page saysWhile one parent is off at sea on a foraging trip that can last several days, the other has to guard the egg or chick against the brown skua, a predatory bird that preys on eggs left exposed at the edge of the colony.
- The source says
nesting in a colony exposed ... to a predatory bird, the brown skua (Stercorarius antarcticus), on King George Island, Antarctica. During incubation, skuas prey upon penguin eggs exposed on the edge of the colony ... As one penguin parent must therefore guard the egg or small chick continuously while its partner is away on foraging trips lasting several days
Note: the source's line-numbered manuscript prints a stray '50' between 'exposed' and 'to a predatory bird'; the first '...' skips past it - The page saysA 2023 study that recorded the brain waves of wild, nesting chinstraps found their solution
- The source says
The penguins nodded off >10,000 times per day, engaging in bouts of bihemispheric and unihemispheric slow-wave sleep lasting on average only 4 seconds ... Science, 2023, 382 (6674)
Note: the year comes from the paper's own self-citation line in the HAL deposit, which appears after the abstract in the cached text; 'recorded the brain waves' glosses the paper's EEG method described throughout - The page saysA 2023 study that recorded the brain waves of wild, nesting chinstrap penguins found they nod off more than 10,000 times a day, in naps that average four seconds.
- The source says
The penguins nodded off >10,000 times per day, engaging in bouts of bihemispheric and unihemispheric slow-wave sleep lasting on average only 4 seconds ... Science, 2023, 382 (6674)
Note: faq 1 first sentence; same reasoning as the body's equivalent claim above - The page saysthe birds nod off more than 10,000 times a day, in naps that average four seconds
- The source says
The penguins nodded off >10,000 times per day, engaging in bouts of bihemispheric and unihemispheric slow-wave sleep lasting on average only 4 seconds
- The page saysSome of those naps shut down both sides of the brain together. Others are one-sided
- The source says
engaging in bouts of bihemispheric and unihemispheric slow-wave sleep lasting on average only 4 seconds
Note: 'both sides together' glosses bihemispheric slow-wave sleep and 'one-sided' unihemispheric - The page saysvideo recordings showed each hemisphere's naps lining up with its opposite eye closing
- The source says
video recordings revealed an association between SWS in a given hemisphere and closure of the contralateral eye
Note: 'its opposite eye' glosses 'the contralateral eye'; the same sentence appears in faq 1 - The page saysA penguin can doze with half its brain while the other half keeps an eye open.
- The source says
The video shows the relationship between eye opening (dark eye) and eye closure (white feathered eyelid) and EEG activity in the contralateral cerebral hemisphere. When the left eye closes, the EEG in the right hemisphere changes to the high-voltage, low-frequency pattern (red) indicative ... of slow-wave sleep.
Note: the open eye is the one on the waking hemisphere's side: the caption pairs eye opening and closure with the contralateral hemisphere's EEG; the source's line-numbered deposit prints a stray '740' inside the last sentence, which the '...' skips - The page saysSleeping With Its Eyes (Half) Closed
- The source says
video recordings revealed an association between SWS in a given hemisphere and closure of the contralateral eye
Note: heading; 'Half' glosses the one-sided (unihemispheric) sleep the paper documents in this species - The page saysA penguin can rest half its brain while the other half keeps its eye open.
- The source says
The video shows the relationship between eye opening (dark eye) and eye closure (white feathered eyelid) and EEG activity in the contralateral cerebral hemisphere. When the left eye closes, the EEG in the right hemisphere changes to the high-voltage, low-frequency pattern (red) indicative ... of slow-wave sleep.
Note: faq 1; the open eye is the one on the waking hemisphere's side, per the caption of the paper's eye-and-EEG video - The page saysStrung together, those seconds-long naps still let each brain hemisphere bank more than 11 hours of sleep a day while keeping the egg guarded the whole time.
- The source says
resulting in the accumulation of >11 hours of sleep for each hemisphere
Note: faq 1 last sentence; 'keeping the egg guarded the whole time' glosses the paper's account of one parent guarding continuously while the other forages, already quoted for the body's skua-predation claim above - The page saysthose seconds-long naps let each hemisphere bank more than 11 hours of slow-wave sleep across a day, and the bird almost 15 hours of it in total
- The source says
the penguins accumulated 14.92 ± 1.13 h ... of SWS per day ... each hemisphere obtained > 11.5 h ... of SWS per day.
Note: 14.92 h of SWS rounds to 'almost 15 hours'; the paper could not score REM sleep, so every total on the page is slow-wave sleep; 11.5 h rounds down to 'more than 11 hours' to match the abstract's figure used elsewhere - The page saysNesting chinstraps rack up over 10,000 microsleeps a day, each averaging about four seconds, and still bank more than 11 hours of sleep for each half of the brain while they guard the egg from skuas.
- The source says
The penguins nodded off >10,000 times per day, engaging in bouts of bihemispheric and unihemispheric slow-wave sleep lasting on average only 4 seconds, but resulting in the accumulation of >11 hours of sleep for each hemisphere.
Note: blockquote; 'guard the egg from skuas' glosses the skua predation and continuous guarding described in the same paper's introduction - The page saysSome of those microsleeps shut down both sides of the brain at once, and others are one-sided
- The source says
engaging in bouts of bihemispheric and unihemispheric slow-wave sleep lasting on average only 4 seconds
Note: faq 1; 'both sides at once' glosses bihemispheric slow-wave sleep and 'one-sided' unihemispheric - The page saysnodding off more than 10,000 times a day in naps averaging four seconds, some with both sides of its brain asleep and some with only one
- The source says
The penguins nodded off >10,000 times per day, engaging in bouts of bihemispheric and unihemispheric slow-wave sleep lasting on average only 4 seconds
Note: vibe.reason, re-paired in task #939 (Shakti); 'both sides' and 'only one' gloss bihemispheric and unihemispheric, as in faq 1
Source
05
Strycker et al. 2020
Strycker et al. (2020). A global population assessment of the Chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica). Scientific Reports.
- The page saysSnow and ice-free ground on the Antarctic Peninsula and islands in the South Atlantic, including the South Shetlands, South Orkneys and South Sandwich Islands
- The source says
the location of snow and ice-free terrain where such a colony may be located as a breeding "site."
Note: stats.habitat - The page saysA 2020 assessment put the global population at 3.42 million breeding pairs across 375 colonies
- The source says
Using satellite imagery, drone imagery, and ground counts, we have assembled the first comprehensive global population assessment of Chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica) at 3.42 ... million breeding pairs across 375 extant colonies ... Collection date 2020.
Note: square-bracketed confidence interval omitted (verify-quotes reads square brackets as an elision marker); 'Collection date 2020' is the paper's own metadata, which appears shortly after the abstract in the cached text - The page saysmore than a third of that population is concentrated in a handful of large colonies in the South Sandwich Islands
- The source says
more than one-third of the global Chinstrap penguin population is concentrated in a few large colonies in the South Sandwich Islands
- The page saysChinstrap and Adélie penguin populations on the western Antarctic Peninsula have declined for the past half century
- The source says
both Chinstrap and Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae) penguin populations around the Western Antarctic Peninsula have declined for the past half century
- The page saysA 2020 survey using satellite and drone imagery put the global population at about 3.42 million breeding pairs spread across 375 colonies
- The source says
Using satellite imagery, drone imagery, and ground counts, we have assembled the first comprehensive global population assessment of Chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica) at 3.42 ... million breeding pairs across 375 extant colonies ... Collection date 2020.
Note: square-bracketed confidence interval omitted (see note above); 'Collection date 2020' is the paper's own submission metadata, which appears shortly after the abstract in the cached text - The page sayswith more than a third of them concentrated in a few large colonies in the South Sandwich Islands
- The source says
more than one-third of the global Chinstrap penguin population is concentrated in a few large colonies in the South Sandwich Islands
Source
06
Masello et al. 2021
Masello et al. (2021). How animals distribute themselves in space: energy landscapes of Antarctic avian predators. Movement Ecology.
- The page saysthough birds tracked at a Deception Island colony have logged maximum dives near 110 meters
- The source says
Maximum dive depth ... 109.9 ... 111.9 ... chinstrap penguins Pygoscelis antarcticus breeding at Vapour Col rookery, Deception Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, during chick guard (January 2017)
Note: Table 2's chinstrap columns: maximum dive depth 109.9 m on short trips and 111.9 m on long trips, so 'near 110 metres' covers both and the page claims no difference between trip types; the table's unit label '[m]' is omitted because the verify-quotes parser reads square brackets as an elision marker
How the table was made: a writer drafted the profile from these sources and logged each claim with its quote, a reviewer with nothing but this table checked every sentence said no more than its quote, and a script confirmed each quote appears word for word in the source. The method is in the site'sAbout page.