Adélie Penguin
Pygoscelis adeliae
The classic tuxedo penguin, with a bold white ring round each eye.
Adélie penguins are what most people picture when they think of a penguin: black on top, white underneath, with a white ring round each eye. They're about 70 cm tall, they breed all the way around the coast of Antarctica, and they build their nests out of pebbles.
On the conservation status
Doing well overall: about 3.8 million breeding pairs, and numbers are growing in most places. But colonies on the northern Antarctic Peninsula and the South Orkney Islands have shrunk.
- Height
- About 70 cm
- Weight
- 3–6 kg
- Lifespan
- 10–20 years
- Diet
- Krill, fish and small crustaceans
- Dive depth
- Up to 175 m; usually the top 70 m
- Swimming speed
- 4–8 km/h
The good stuff.
Pebble nests
Adélies build their nests out of pebbles they find on dry land. By mid-November there are usually two eggs in each one.
Taking turns
Parents take turns keeping the eggs warm, in shifts of 11 to 14 days, while the other one is away at sea feeding.
Fast-growing chicks
Chicks are ready to leave at just 7 to 9 weeks old, so the whole breeding season fits into the short Antarctic summer, from October to February.
Ice lovers
Adélies depend on sea ice, and in recent years their numbers have gone up where the sea ice has grown. Scientists expect them to decline around Antarctica in the future as the ice changes.
Mega-colonies
In 2018 scientists reported two enormous "mega-colonies" of Adélies on the Danger Islands, off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.
A comeback near Casey
Around Australia's Casey research station in East Antarctica, Adélie numbers have grown from 30,000 breeding pairs in the 1950s to nearly 200,000 today.
Wait, really?
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On the ice they walk at about 2.5 km/h — about half a person's walking speed.
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A parent brings back 300–650 g of food per meal, depending on how big the chicks are.
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They breed in 190 to 250 colonies around Antarctica.
What it sounds like
Harsh, throbbing calls and loud squawks, especially when a neighbour gets too close.
We haven't found a recording we're allowed to share yet, so for now this one is a description.
Where you might see one
All around the coast of Antarctica.
The trouble
- Changes in the sea ice they depend on, as the climate warms
One real thing
Adélies need Antarctic sea ice to stay the way it is. Cutting carbon helps, and so does choosing products without krill oil — krill is one of their main foods.
More ways to help