This little Penguin (along with the giant Emperor Penguin) is the only Penguin that lives exclusively on the continent of Antarctica. Easy to recognize, Adelie Penguin has a white circle around her eyes. When French explorer Admiral Durmont d’Urville, who led an expedition to Antarctica from 1837 to 1840, saw this little Penguin, he named Her ‘Adelie’ after his wife.
The most abundant Bird in Antarctica, Adelie Penguin lives in the major metropolises of the Penguin World. Traveling long distances, She arrives at the great colony on Cape Crozier at the edge of the Ross Sea. (This colony usually has as many as 200,000 Birds.) Another place favored by Adelie Penguin is Hope Bay colony.
In these huge Penguin cities, Adelie Penguin tries to live in harmony with other Penguins. To squeeze between other Penguins, She walks holding her flippers back. She rarely fights with other Adelie Penguins except when She want the best nesting sites. Fights break out when other Adelie Penguins steal stones from her nest. When She battles, Adelie Penguin flaps her flippers angrily, grips her Rival’s beak, and bump chests until her Rival gives way.
Thousands of Adelie Penguins in the colony gather on the lip of an ice floe to hunt for Krill. But before They all literally spill into the water, Adelie Penguin confers with all the other Penguins. She checks for a lurking Leopard Seal. When Seal is spied, no Penguin leaves the ice floe. But since no Leopard Seal is spotted, Adelie Penguin and her Friends dive head first together into the ocean.
Adelie Penguin walks up to fifty miles (about 100 km) across ice and snow to her breeding grounds. She usually returns to the very spot where She had nested before. When Adelie Penguin arrives, She looks for her Mate. When They find each other, the two Penguins affirm their devotion by raucous demonstrations. Facing toe to toe, with flippers at their sides, both Adelie Penguins waggle their uplifted heads to and fro, ending with their bills pointing to the sky.
When mating, Father Adelie Penguin will present Mother Adelie Penguin with a pebble, usually one He stole from another Penguin’s nest. After accepting the presented stone, Mother Adelie Penguin makes the nest with her Mate. Mother and Father Adelie Penguin take turns incubating their eggs that She laid. Then, both Parents take turns feeling their Chicks.
Adelie Penguin teaches devotion to your partner. After crossing the Antarctic continent to breed, Adelie Penguin searches for her Mate. When They finally meet, They greet each other with an ecstatic display. When breeding season is over, Adelie Penguin leaves knowing her Mate will remember Her. Then, at the next breeding season, She looks for Him.
Purchase penguin and DVDs books from Amazon.com. The Adelie book is special order.
Va. Carper
March 4, 2008