The Many Species of Penguins

In my last post I stated that there are 17 different species of penguins. This post is dedicated to the Adelie Penguins.

The Adelie Penguins are roughly 18-30 inches tall and weigh 7.9-13 pounds. They have a distinct white ring around their eyes. There are feathers around their bill that actually cover the red bill that they have. Adelie Penguins' appearance is what everyone thinks of when they think of penguins. They have the tuxedo look to them; black back and feathers and an all white belly. These penguins can actually swim up to 45 miles per hour.

Adelie Penguins are actually in the Near Threatened category. There are 38 colonies of these penguins in the world and over five million of these birds live in the Ross Sea region. Their season for breeding is from October to February around the Antarctica. Their nests are made out of stones and need to be big enough to handle the two eggs that the female Adelie Penguins lay at a time. The male and female take turns incubating the egg until it is hatched. Once it is hatched, the newborn will stay in the nest until joining the group after a mere 22 days.

Fun Fact:  Before Adelie Penguins dive into the water, they all stand on the ice as close as possible to the ocean. When they are all ready, they end up shoving one of the birds off of the ledge. If the bird keeps swimming around once in the water, they all jump off and follow behind. If something bad happens to the bird, none of them go into the water and they back away from the ledge.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/adelie-penguin/