Emperor Penguins are much rarer in captivity than King Penguins, but are Emperor Penguins more difficult to keep than King Penguins? (Incidentally, in North America, they are currently only kept at SeaWorld Orlando.)
Yes, very. It's mainly the temperature which must be maintained considerably lower being native to the continent itself rather than the sub-Antarctic islands. The breeding success rate is low as well and seem to thrive in larger groups of emperors, which is no surprise there.
They're expensive to keep and the captive population is low without any possibility of importing new individuals. Sea World had a terrible track record of emperor husbandry in the 80s and collected numerous individuals over a number of collection trips.
They also require different habitat substrate to thrive. Emperors are fatter and stubbier than kings, which are already pretty stubby themselves. They need even flatter terrain than kings, and a low edge between the land and water area which can be hard to replicate and prevent overflow.
