penguin is male or female is that males are usually more robust and have larger bills. Also during mating season, female penguins are identifiable by muddy footprints left behind by males during mating activity.Males and female penguins may take from 3 to 8 years before they reach sexual maturity. With some smaller species of penguins, breeding can occur between 3 and 4 years; but with larger penguins, breeding does not occur until much later in life, and then some do not breed until the eighth year. The King penguin has the longest breeding cycle of all of the penguin species, lasting fourteen to sixteen months. A female King penguin may produce a chick twice in every 3 breeding seasons. (Sparks and Soper, 1987) The Fairy penguin has the shortest breeding cycle in the species, about fifty days. When penguins begin to mate, the courtship varies from species to species. Courtships begin with both visual and auditory displays as mentioned above. In many of the species, the male displays first to establish a nesting site and then attracts a suitable mate. However during this display, the female makes the mate selection. Most penguin species are monogamous meaning one female breeds with one male during a breeding season. However, if a male penguin arrives late to his destination for breeding, this could be grounds for divorce. Most female Emperors and King penguins mate within twenty-four hours after arriving at the rookery. If the male is late or does not show up during this time period, the female will move on and find another mate. When penguins return to the rookery each breeding season, most tend to be faithful and return to the same place. The males tend to arrive first to set up the nesting site prior to the females arrival. Most species of penguins nest on the surface, in open habitats, and many have only a rudimentary nest consisting of a hollow amongst boulders, tussocks, or other vegetation lined with a few stones or pieces of...
