Description
& Characteristics:
One of the most common and well-known of all Antarctic penguin
species, Adelie penguins can be found forming colonies on
islands, beaches and headlands all around the Antarctic coast.
The sight of thousands of them waddling and sliding to the
water's edge and then, at the appropriate moment, diving headlong
into the frigid Antarctic waters, has thrilled Antarctic visitors
for generations. Early explorers made use of the ubiquitous
Adelie not only for endless entertainment but also as a source
of eggs and tough, but tasty meat. Scientists today use the
Adelie as an indicator species to monitor the abundance of
krill, so important to the web of Antarctic life.
The
Adelie penguin is the stereotypical penguin. With its white
'tuxedo shirt' front, and the white ring around its eyes,
the bird has a handsome, yet comical appearance. Its beak
is reddish with a black tip.
Adelies
vacate their winter quarters on the comparative warm Antarctic
ice pack and arrive at the rookeries during September and
October, often scampering several miles over the sea ice to
reach their ancestral coastal homes. They typically establish
dense colonies on the ice-free slopes of rocky coasts, headlands
and islands. Competition for nesting sites can be fierce and
the older more dominant birds tend to stake nests in the middle
of the colony where they are better protected from marauding
skuas.
A mating
pair of Adelies will build a rocky nest of small stones carried
in the birds' beaks and dropped into place. Two greenish-white
eggs are usually laid in early November. Males and females
take turns incubating the eggs, however, the female returns
to the sea first, often leaving the male to stand alone for
up to ten days while she feeds.
Hatching
occurs after about 35 days. The chicks are brooded closely
by their parents for the first two to three weeks. While the
two chicks hatch almost simultaneously, inevitably one chick
is stronger and is better able to win food, which is regurgitated
from the crop of whichever parent is present at the time.
Growing rapidly, the chicks soon develop a thick woolly gray
down and quickly become almost as large as their parents.
During the third or fourth week they huddle with other chicks
in nursery groups called 'crèches' for both protection
and warmth. This leaves the parents free to go to sea on feeding
forays in order to satisfy their chicks' increasing appetites.
Often, a parade of adults can regularly be seen moving between
the colony and the sea on such feeding trips. By late March
most of the chicks can swim and the Adelies then depart for
the pack ice and the sea.
The Adelie's
main oceanic predators are leopard
seals which often lie in wait beneath the ledges to snare
the first penguin into the water.
