Falkland Islands, 2017 Fifty Pence "KING" Penguin, Coloured Cupro-Nickel Diamond Finish, in Capsule UNC

Third issue of the penguins series, the 'KING' penguin. The reverse features a large adult male King penguin with his smaller female companion lovingly touching their beaks.. The obverse features a new and exclusive effigy design of H M Queen Elizabeth II., issued by the Pobjoy Mint in a blue pouch & Certificate of Authenticity. The King penguin is a very large species of penguin, second only to the Emperor Penguin and reaches a height of about 100cm and weight of 18kg. They sustain themselves on a diet of small fish and squid which they dive to incredible depths of over 100m to catch. The plumage of the king penguin is similar to the Emperor Penguin with a contrasting vivid yellow-orange patch at the top of the chest. The King Penguin also has this same orange on its cheek patches where this is much lighter on the Emperor. The King penguin is found Sub-Antarctic islands such as the Falkland Islands and the population, currently at 2.2 million is actually increasing. Similarly to other penguins the king has two groups of predators, those who eat its eggs such as Petrals and Skua and those who hunt adult penguins such as the Leopard seal and the Orca. King penguins typically start to reproduce at the age of about 6 and they are serially monogamous which means that they will have one partner each year that they will stay faithful to.