Fun Penguin Pictures
Jean Pennycook
www.penguinscience.com
These slides are pictures of penguins being
penguins and each one has it’s own story. All
pictures are Adélie Penguins and were taken
in the Ross Sea colonies of Antarctica. For
more pictures or information on Adélie
Penguins go to our website:
www.penguinscience.com
An aerial view of the Adélie Penguin breeding colony at
Cape Royds, Antarctica.
At home on an ice floe
These are very inquisitive birds, and want to explore any new object (even me) that
comes into the colony.
Penguins use their mouth to carry rocks back to the nest.
Dry head
Wet head
Getting into the water is always dangerous. Leopard seals
hide under the ice and wait for the penguins to jump in.
There is safety in numbers so usually they go in groups.
To get on the ice, penguins have to swim fast and ‘fly’ out of the water. This
ice was only 3 ft high and the penguin made the leap easily. We have seen
them leap as high as 6 ft. No they don’t always make it, sometimes they hit
the ledge and fall back in the water.
Sometimes white feathers show up in the oddest places.
Adélie Penguins aren’t always black and white. We
occasionally see albino chicks. However, I have never
seen an adult albino.
An albino chick
newly hatched.
Another color variation of Adélie Penguin. We call
this one Blondie.
Dark brown
color
variation.
This one we call salt and pepper.
A breeding pair of South Polar Skuas who are
tag-teaming an isolated Adélie nest. One Skua
will distract the penguin, the other will snatch the
egg. In this case they were successful.
Occasionally the tag-teaming is reversed. In this case the
penguins scared the Skua off it’s nest and then kept it off
until another Skua came and stole the egg. Penguins do
not eat the eggs of other birds, but we were happy to see
this small pay-back event.
An Adélie Penguin
chick just about as big
as they get. The next
step for this chick is to
molt to it’s adult
plumage.
A chick in the
process of molting
to the adult
plumage.
Every year
adult
penguins
molt, loosing
their old
feathers and
growing new
ones. This
adult Adélie
Penguin is
beginning
the process.
To get between ice floes, Adélie penguins sometimes leap.
Usually they make it, but we have watched many attempts
with the bird landing in the water.
A 3 egg nest. Adélie Penguins lay only 2, one must have rolled
in from another nest. None of these eggs hatched as the adult
could not keep them all warm at the same time.
The egg froze to
the feathers of this
bird. It will not
hatch as it is
exposed to the cold
air. A few minutes
after the picture
was taken the
penguin laid down
on the rocks and
the egg broke.
The chick is
just beginning
to crack the
shell. We call
this peeping.
A chick just
moments
after breaking
the shell.
It doesn’t take long and the chick is a fuzzy ball of
warm downy feathers.
First
meal.
Penguin tracks in the snow.
Penguin tracks all over the place. The wide tracks are
penguins who are sliding on their bellies. Called tobogganing,
it takes less energy and they can go faster than walking.
Strong penguin feet, good for climbing on rocks and walking on ice.
Adélie Penguin eggs are laid about 2 days apart. This chick is 2
weeks old and the second egg is still in the nest, but will not
hatch.
When storms
hit, the
guarding adult
will turn it’s
back to the
wind protecting
the chick from
the cold and
snow.
Adult penguins create a warm dry place for the
chicks during a storm.
Clean penguins full of
food returning to the
colony to relieve their
mates.
Dirty, hungry penguins
leaving the colony headed
to the ocean for food.
They have been sitting on
the nest for a long time.
A crack opened up near the breeding colony which
made finding food a lot easier for these penguins.
Although they can hold their breath for several minutes, Adélie
Penguins need to come up for air. Notice in this picture they
come out of the water when they swim to breath through their
mouths.
If you just stand still penguins will come up to
you, they are very curious.
Yes, these penguins sleep with their eyes closed.
Adélie Penguins love the ice.
Other Powerpoint presentations for you classroom:
Introduction to the Polar regions, Why is Antarctica so cold?
Introduction to Adélie Penguins, Adélie Penguins march into the classroom
Penguin Adaptations, This is a harsh continent
Adélie Penguin Behavior, Good manners are always in style
Penguin Predation and Competition, Life is tough for an Adélie Penguin
Adélie Penguins Cope with Global Climate Change
Did You Know, How researchers know what they know
Penguin Quandaries, Can you answer these mysteries
Fun pictures about Adélie Penguins
Go to www.penguinscience.com The education page.