Table 2. Dive and foraging efficiency indices for female and male African penguins rearing chicks on Bird Island (BI) and St Croix Island (SC).
Parameters for benthic (B) and pelagic (P) dives are provided where applicable.
| BI | SC | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | Male | Female | Male | |||||
| N = 4 | N = 4 | N = 4 | N = 5 | |||||
| Adult mass (kg) | 2.85 ± 0.06 | 3.26 ± 0.14 | 3.06 ± 0.13 | 3.30 ± 0.06 | ||||
| Vertical travelled distance (km) | 15.5 ± 4.0 | 22.5 ± 6.8 | 13.2 ± 4.1 | 16.9 ± 1.2 | ||||
| Dive rate (dive/h−1) | 22.7 ± 3.9 | 27.4 ± 5.1 | 25.2 ± 8.2 | 29.8 ± 6.4 | ||||
| Dive type | B | P | B | P | B | P | B | P |
| Dives (n) | 170 | 1,366 | 454 | 1,132 | 392 | 1,169 | 680 | 1,412 |
| Total captured prey | 159 | 655 | 595 | 381 | 482 | 466 | 992 | 428 |
| Successful dives (%) | 45.3 | 27.5 | 61.5 | 23.2 | 66.7 | 23.6 | 62.9 | 18.8 |
| Mean capture depth (m) | 46.0 ± 2.0 | 20.0 ± 0.6 | 57.5 ± 1.0 | 17.1 ± 1.0 | 28.4 ± 0.9 | 7.3 ± 0.4 | 38.0 ± 0.5 | 9.1 ± 0.5 |
| Mean bottom time (s) | 8.7 ± 1.2 | 10.3 ± 0.3 | 16.5 ± 1.0 | 14.8 ± 1.2 | 15.0 ± 0.9 | 8.4 ± 0.2 | 24.7 ± 1.6 | 7.9 ± 0.2 |
| Prey capture rate (captures/dives) | 1.02 ± 0.1 | 0.35 ± 0.1 | 1.41 ± 0.1 | 0.25 ± 0.1 | 1.25 ± 0.1 | 0.35 ± 0.1 | 1.61 ± 0.1 | 0.24 ± 0.1 |
| Mean VeDBA | 0.19 ± 0.1 | 0.20 ± 0.1 | 0.17 ± 0.1 | 0.24 ± 0.1 | 0.16 ± 0.1 | 0.24 ± 0.1 | 0.17 ± 0.1 | 0.27 ± 0.1 |
| Total VeDBA | 392.4 ± 10.0 | 158.3 ± 3.0 | 493.7 ± 8.1 | 138.8 ± 3.4 | 329.3 ± 4.2 | 101.6 ± 2.1 | 415.6 ± 3.1 | 87.0 ± 1.7 |