ADELIE PENGUIN (Pygoscelis adeliae)

     Adelie penguins are one of the three species of the penguins. Adelies are common along the Antarctic and the islands that lay around it. These are the most southernly distributed of all seabirds, Emperor Penguin, South Polar Skua, Wilson's Storm Petrel, Snow Petrel, and  Antarctic Petrel.The Adélie Penguin is one of three species in the genus Pygoscelis. Mitochondrial and nuclearDNA evidence suggests the genus split from other penguins around 38 million years ago, about 2 million years after the ancestors of the genus Aptenodytes. In turn, the Adélie penguins split off from the other members of the genus around 19 million years ago.Penguins  eat krill (a shrimp-like crustacean in the Family Euphausiidae), squids, and fishes. Various species of penguins have slightly different food preferences, which reduce competition among species.      I got this photo from google xP. 

     These penguins 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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMNhTiu9-2Y. <-------- Is a video of some Adelie penguins if you don't know what they look like.

     The Adelie Penguin is known to feed mainly on Antarctic krill, ice krill, Antarctic silverfish, and Glacial Squid (diet varies depending on geographic location) during the chick-rearing season. The stable isotope record of fossil eggshell accumulated in colonies over the last 38,000 years reveals a sudden change from a fish-based diet to krill that started two hundred years ago. This is most likely due to the decline of the Antarctic Fur Seal since the late 1700s and Baleen whales in the twentieth century. The reduction of competition from these predators has resulted in a surplus of krill, which the penguins now exploit as an easier source of food.Adélie penguins arrive at their breeding grounds in October or November, at the end of winter and the start of spring. Their nests consist of stones piled together. In December, the warmest month in Antarctica (about -2°C), the parents take turns 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. The Adélie penguin lives on sea ice but needs the ice-free land to breed. With a reduction in sea ice and a scarcity of food, populations of the Adélie penguin have dropped by 65% over the past 25 years.

     Adelie penguins feed on a variety of organisms such as small fish (e.g. anchovies), cephalopods (e.g. squids) and crustaceans (e.g. krill). The diet at any particular location and time reflects fluctuations in food availability. Krill (antarctic or crystal) seems to be the preferred foodsource when available. Fish are the most abundant prey during the breeding season, whereas squid predominates in the winter. Hunting is by sight so the dive depth is dependant on the amount of light. Usually dives dont last longer than 5 minutes are are not deeper than 50m, however dives of 170m have been recorded. Most of the feeding takes place in areas where there is broken up sea ice around land. Especially at the beginning of the breeding season, large areas of unbroken sea ice may seperate Adelies from the water, necessitating long foraging trips. If the sea ice does not retreat fast enough, the Adelies may be unable to feed their chicks sufficiently.

Here is a video of some Adelie Penguins xD and one more here.

Those are the characteristics of adult adelie penguins.  

DOMAIN: Eukarya     

 KINGDOM:Animalia

PHYLUM: Chordata

CLASS: Aves

ORDER: Sphenisciformes

FAMILY: Spheniscidae

GENUS SPECIES: There are 17 species of penguins:

I got these awesomerific facts over here!! XD\

I got all these facts at............................................... HERE!!!! AND HERE AND THERE TOO!!!! XD

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