Adelie Penguins

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Information about the Adélie Penguin

The Adélie Penguin, Pygoscelis adeliae, is a species of penguin common along the entire Antarctic coast and its nearby islands. They are among most southerly distributed of all seabirds, along with Emperor Penguin, South Polar Skua, Wilson's Storm Petrel, Snow Petrel, and Antarctic Petrel. In 1830 (182 years ago), French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville named them for his wife, Adélie.

Taxonomy

The Adélie Penguin is one of three species in the genus Pygoscelis. Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA evidence suggests the genus split from other Penguins (9 walls) around 38 million years ago, about 2 million years after the ancestors of the genus Aptenodytes. In turn, the Adélie Penguins (9 walls) split off from the other members of the genus around 19 million years ago.

Distribution

There are 38 colonies of Adélie Penguins (9 walls), and there are over 5 million Adélies in the Ross Sea region. Ross Island supports a colony of approximately half a million Adélies.

Description

These Penguins (9 walls) are mid-sized, being 46 to 75 cm (18 to 30 in) in length and 3.9 to 5.8 kg (8.6 to 12.8 lbs) in weight. Distinctive marks are the white ring surrounding the eye and the feathers at the base of the bill. These long feathers hide most of the red bill. The tail is a little longer than other penguins' tails.

Behaviour

Like all Penguins (9 walls), the Adélie is highly social, foraging and nesting in groups. They also are very aggressive to other Penguins (9 walls) that steal stones from their nest.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

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