FAQs

Adélie Penguins can not see well in the dark. Therefore they must spend the winter near or north of the Antarctic Circle (south of which the number of days during which the sun does not rise increases with higher latitude, i.e. moving south). They also need to occur where the sea ice is stable (not moving rapidly owing to local winds) and is sparse enough that it is easy to find access to the ocean between ice floes. However, they do not occur very far into the open waters that are north of the sea ice.

The oldest Adelie Penguin in a zoo lived to 30 years; the oldest known individual in the wild was 20 years. Most live to about 15 years, once they survive their first few years.

They are about 30 cm tall; the smallest female might be ~28 cm and the tallest male about 32 cm. Their body mass changes from ~6 kg in the spring to ~4 kg by the end of the chick-rearing period.

Penguins communicate by voice and by body gestures to court a mate, recognize their mate after an absence, fend off intruders on their territory and find their chick in the crowd. These behaviors are called social displays.

Penguins have many adaptations to keep them warm. When the temperature gets a few degrees above freezing they must work to lose heat by panting and fluffing their feathers.

Yes penguins fight, sometimes drawing blood. They use their beaks to bite and their wings so hit.

Adelie penguins protect themselves, their eggs and chicks by pecking at intruders to their nest area. Their beaks are very strong and can deliver a mean bite.

-50oC to +5oC

They can give you a cut. Ouch!

Their nest is about 1 meter from center to center. Just enough distance so neighbors can not peak each other.

The males build nest out of rocks and wait for the females to come lay their eggs. During the brooding and guard both members of the pair continue bringing rocks to the nest

No, the females and males have the same color markings. We can not tell them apart if they are just standing around in a group.

The numbers vary widely. Some colonies are small, just 100 nests, but others are very large, totaling 180,000 nests.

Many pairs will stay together for several years, but sometimes a mate will not return, so a new mate will be found.

While a nesting penguin is waiting for the mate to return, he or she lives on the layers of fat that they accumulate when feeding. If the mate does not return before the reserves are used up, the penguin will abandon the nest and go forage for food. The longest time we know of that a male has gone without feeding is about 8 weeks; females about 3 weeks.

Penguins do not breath underwater, they hold their breath. They catch their food alive so it is very fresh.

Adelie penguins can hold their breath for as long as 3 min when they dive for food.

Both air and water are “liquids.” It’s just that water is much “thicker” than air. Penguins do fly, but through the water and can swim very fast. Their wings and wing feathers are very small compared to flying birds and their bodies heavier, so flight in the air is not possible for this bird.