Sex identification in King Penguins Aptenodytes patagonicus through morphological and acoustic cues
Abstract
In the context of sexual selection, animals have developed a variety of cues conveying information
about the sex of an individual to conspecifics. In many colonial seabird species,
where females and males are monomorphic and do not show obvious differences in external
morphology, acoustic cues are an important signal for individual and sex recognition. Here,
we study the vocal and morphological sex dimorphism in the King Penguin Aptenodytes
patagonicus, a colonial, monomorphic seabird for which our knowledge about the role of
vocalizations and morphology in mate choice is very limited. Data were collected at Possession
Island, Crozet Archipelago, in a breeding colony consisting of about 16 000 breeding
pairs. Using measurements of six morphological features and analysing acoustic parameters
of call recordings of adult individuals, we show that King Penguins can be sexed based on a
single morphological measurement of the beak with an accuracy of 79%. We found a sexspecific
syntax in adult King Penguin calls that provided a 100% accurate method to distinguish
between the sexes in our study population. To confirm the method at the species
level, we analysed calls recorded from King Penguin adults in Kerguelen Island, 1300 km
away from our study population and found the same accuracy of the sex-specific syntax.
This sex-specific syllable arrangement is rare in non-passerines and is a first step in understanding
the mate choice process in this species. Furthermore, it offers a cost-effective, noninvasive
technique for researchers to sex King Penguins in the field.