King Penguins of Falklands

The Falkland Islands are not just famous for the 1982 conflict. Hundreds of thousands of penguins – including one of the world’s most northerly colonies of King penguins – live on the archipelago.

The King population, which was once hunted for oil, was virtually wiped out by the late 1800s, but they started to reappear in the 1930s and have been steadily growing in number since.

The Kings and other species are a valuable asset to the Falklands, not least because they attract wildlife enthusiasts and cruise ship day trippers to the islands. Visitors are asked to keep their distance from the birds, and wardens usually keep watch.