Adelie Penguin
| Adelie Penguin | |||||||||||||||
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| An Adelie Penguin staring off into sea | |||||||||||||||
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Least Concern[1] (IUCN 3.1)
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| Pygoscelis adeliae (Hombron and Jacquinot, 1841) |
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The Adelie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) is a penguin that is white in the front and black on the back. There are white rings around their eyes. There are about 2.5 million Adelie penguins in Antarctica.
Adelies come ashore to breed in the summer. In the winter, they live on ice that floats off the Antarctic shore.
[change] Chicks and eggs
Adelie parents take turns keeping their chicks warm and fed. While one watches the nest, the other goes into the ocean to catch krill. The penguins carry the krill back the nest in their stomachs. Then they regurgitate it to feed their chicks.
Most Adelie penguins incubate two eggs at a time. The little chicks hatch out at more or less the same time. One is usually stronger than the other and has a better chance of surviving.
When first born, the chicks are kept warm by their parents. But after two or three weeks, they make a thick, woolly gray down. Then they join other chicks in creches, or nursery groups.
[change] Weight
Adelies weigh only about 8.5 pounds (the weight of a house cat). They are about 28 inches tall.[2]
[change] References
- ↑ Bird, J., Butchart, S. (2009). Pygoscelis adeliae. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2008. Retrieved on 8 October 2011.
- ↑ Cole, Joanne; Bruce Degen (2001). Magic School Bus, Penguin Puzzle. United States of America: Scholastic Inc.. pp. 34. ISBN 0-439-31432-1.
