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The Adélie Penguin | Articles of Interest for Travelers to The Antarctic

The Adélie Penguin

It was a daring life, of maneuvering sailing ships around icebergs, of voyages spent in extreme deprivation, of Antarctica tours lasting months in service to the king and science. By age fifty, Admiral Jules Durmont d’Urville had returned to Paris to live out his remaining years on land with his wife Adelie and their two sons, to write about his exciting adventures and astonishing discoveries. He was to make history one more time. Following a relaxing day in the company of King Louis-Philippe I at Versailles, the family boarded the train for the short trip back to the city. In what was to become known as one of the world’s first major railway disasters, one that ended the practice of locking rail carriages, the four were among the fifty-five who perished that day, when the train derailed and caught fire. It was an unimaginable death for one who had spent much of his life collecting flora and fauna specimens in the coldest places on earth.

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His name lives on, in various locations, among them, the d’Urville Sea in the Southern Ocean, d’Urville Island, one of the islands off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, and the Dumont d’Urville Station that serves as a center for French research on Petral Island off the mainland coast of Antarctica. Thanks to a devoted husband, Adelie’s does too, as the area of Antarctica d’Urville claimed for France, called Adelie Land, and in the little Adelie penguin he saw in abundance during his travel to Antarctica.
A bit taller and heavier than the Chinstrap species, the Adelie male stands two and a half feet tall at adulthood and weighs a bit over ten pounds. The female is slightly smaller. Its head and back are black, its front white and beak red and black. For the most part, Adelies are shallow divers and feed on krill and fin-fish. They breed far south in a short season spent close to food sources. Beginning in October, Adelies may be found at their shoreline breeding grounds where they fashion a nest of rocks for the two eggs they lay. The male and female share nest responsibilities, alternating every few days. Chicks are born in January and February after an incubation period of a little over a month and leave the crèche at just seven weeks.
Only the Adelie and Emperor species live on mainland Antarctica. Large numbers of Adelies may be seen on beaches along the continental coast, especially in the area of the Ross Sea and along the Antarctic Peninsula. The largest colonies of Adelies are found in McMurdo Sound in the Ross Sea and at tiny Paulet Island off the northeastern tip of the peninsula in the Weddell Sea. Visitors on Antarctica tours will also see the Adelie in the South Orkney Islands where it is endemic.
Adelies have been well-studied by scientists in their travel to Antarctica. Though their numbers are estimated at 2.5 million pairs, Adelies live in the harshest of conditions, and their numbers are declining.

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