Résumé
Growing evidence suggests that telomeres,non-coding DNA sequences that shorten with age andstress, are related in an undefined way to individualbreeding performances and survival rates in several species.Short telomeres and elevated shortening rates aretypically associated with life stress and low health. Assuch, telomeres could serve as an integrative proxy ofindividual quality, describing the overall biological state ofan individual at a given age. Telomere length could beassociated with the decline of an array of physiologicaltraits in age-controlled individuals. Here, we investigatedthe links between individuals’ relative telomere length,breeding performance and various physiological (bodycondition, natural antibody levels) and life history (age,past breeding success) parameters in a long-lived seabirdspecies, the king penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus. Whilewe observed no link between relative telomere length andage, we found that birds with longer telomeres arrivedearlier for breeding at the colony, and had higher breedingperformances (i.e. the amount of time adults managed tomaintain their chicks alive, and ultimately breeding success)than individuals with shorter telomeres. Further, weobserved a positive correlation between telomere lengthand natural antibody levels. Taken together, our results addto the growing evidence that telomere length is likely toreflect individual quality difference in wild animal.