  According to most stellar dynamo theories, differential rotation (DR) plays a
crucial role for the generation of toroidal magnetic fields. Numerical models
predict surface differential rotation to be anti-solar for rapidly-rotating
giant stars, i.e., their surface angular velocity could increase with stellar
latitude. However, surface differential rotation has been derived only for a
handful of individual giant stars to date.
  The spotted surface of the K-giant KU Pegasi is investigated in order to
detect its time evolution and quantify surface differential rotation.
  We present altogether 11 Doppler images from spectroscopic data collected
with the robotic telescope STELLA between 2006--2011. All maps are obtained
with the surface reconstruction code iMap. Differential rotation is extracted
from these images by detecting systematic (latitude-dependent) spot
displacements. We apply a cross-correlation technique to find the best
differential rotation law.
  The surface of KU Peg shows cool spots at all latitudes and one persistent
warm spot at high latitude. A small cool polar spot exists for most but not all
of the epochs. Re-identification of spots in at least two consecutive maps is
mostly possible only at mid and high latitudes and thus restricts the
differential-rotation determination mainly to these latitudes. Our
cross-correlation analysis reveals solar-like differential rotation with a
surface shear of $\alpha=+0.040\pm0.006$, i.e., approximately five times weaker
than on the Sun. We also derive a more accurate and consistent set of stellar
parameters for KU Peg including a small Li abundance of ten times less than
solar.

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics