Adélie penguin

How it lives

Adélies breed from October to February in colonies on dry ground, building nests of pebbles. Pairs usually lay two eggs by mid-November, chicks hatch in December and leave the nest at 7 to 9 weeks. Chicks do not return to the colony until they are 3 to 5 years old. Life expectancy is about 10 to 20 years. Leopard seals hunt adults, and skuas and giant petrels take eggs and chicks.

Where it goes

Adélie penguins breed all around the coast of Antarctica and on some sub-Antarctic islands, making them the most widespread penguin in the Antarctic. Breeding birds come ashore on dry, sloping ground from October to February. I did not read a detailed account of where they go in winter.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

The first global census, in 2014, counted about 3.79 million breeding pairs (95 percent range 3.52 to 4.10 million) in 251 colonies. That was 53 percent more than the 1993 estimate of 2.47 million, partly because 41 colonies were newly counted. Trends differ by region: declines along the western Antarctic Peninsula, increases in East Antarctica and the Ross Sea. The Windmill Islands near Casey grew from 30,000 pairs in the 1950s to nearly 200,000. In 2024, more than 532 dead Adélies were found, with bird flu suspected. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern (2020).