Adelie Penguin

From Devonshire

The Adélie Penguin, Pygoscelis adeliae is the only species of penguin found in Devonshire so far. This species is common along the entire Antarctic coast and nearby islands. Aside from the storm petrel, they are the most southerly distributed of all seabirds. In 1830, French explorer Dumont d'Urville named them for his wife, Adélie. Ross Island supports a colony of approximately half a million Adélie penguins.

Each penguin is 60 to 70 cm long and around 4 kg 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 bit longer than other penguins' tails.

Adélie Penguins arrive at their breeding grounds in October. Their nests consist of stones piled together. Sometimes the competition for breeding sites gets so fierce that mothers will steal stones from neighbours' nests. The males summon the females with a low guttural noise followed by a loud cry. A female typically lays two eggs which are brown or green in color. In December, the warmest month in Antarctica (about -2°C), the parents alternate periods of incubating the egg; one goes to feed and the other stays to warm the egg. The parent who is incubating does not eat. In March, the adults and their young return to the sea.

This penguin feeds mainly on crustaceans, such as krill, and fish.

Other names used in Devonshire

Brush-Tailed Penguin

Scientific classification

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Aves
• Order: Sphenisciformes
• Family: Spheniscidae
• Genus: Pygoscelis
• Species: P. adeliae
• Binomial name
• Pygoscelis adeliae

(Hombron & Jacquinot, 1841)