Adelies are your basic model penguin, the little black and white guys. They stand about 24" to 30" (75 cm) tall and weigh between nine and 14 pounds (4 - 6 kg.) At the end of the breeding season, they may weigh only six to ten pounds (3 - 5 kg.) They have a short, stubby beak in a straight line with their foreheads, which gives them a sort of flat-headed look that culminates in a rounded angle at the back of their heads. Chicks have a white chin that turns black as they reach maturity; that's the best way to tell the juveniles from the adults. The adults also have a white ring around their eyes. Adelies are snow-and-ice dwellers; they are found primarily on the Antarctic continent and it's offshore islands. They colonize on the edge of the ice in October, building pebble nests on bare ground after the snow and ice have melted. The females lay two eggs and then go off to sea to feed for two weeks, leaving the males to tend them. The eggs hatch after 36 days, and parents will only feed their own chicks, who chase after them for food, rampaging through the entire colony in a truly comical Keystone Kops chase scene. By February, the chicks have moulted and are ready to go to sea with the rest of the colony.
Like several other penguin species, Adelies are krill-eaters. Krill are tiny shrimp that feed much of the ocean life of the Southern Ocean. And because krill are shrimp and shrimp are pink, Adelie colonies are usually awash in pink poop.
Adelies waddle in typical penguion fashion, but when they run or toboggan on their bellies, they can outsprint a running man. I've seen them zoom by at impressive speeds, moving in much the same way on their stomachs as they do in the water.
Like many wildlife species in this part of the world, Adelies have no land predators, chiefly because they are the only land animals in their part of the world. But they are handy prey for Leopard seals while they're in the water, and Skuas and Sheathbills prey on their colonies from the air, snatching eggs and weak or abandoned chicks at every opportunity.
Their personalities are noisy and squabbly. They interact in groups, often standing around together in a circle and squawking noisily. Their individual interactions tend to be fractious, too, and they squabble over pebbles during nest-building time. They're very busy, runnning around, arguing, being chased by or feeding their chicks, and generally providing hours of entertainment. It's impossible to spend any time with them without falling in love.
