Adaptation

    Adélies have simple coloring: black feathers with blue tips covering their back, tail, head, and face which allow it to blend in murky depths of the water. They also have a white belly and white rings around their dark brown eyes which help it blend in with the bright surface.  Their beaks are mostly black, but orange at the base and halfway covered by their feathers.   The short white-pink feet with black undersides add to their overall stocky appearance which aids with retaining heat by reducing body surface area exposed to the cold.  Adélies have adapted a variety of other ways to shield them from the harsh conditions, which they live in.  Their feathers are short and overlapping providing the penguins with a thick layering of feathers, and underneath this first defense of feathers there is another coat of down snug to the skin a thick layer of fat which helps to keep their bodies warm.

    Adélies are very apt swimmers.  They may have to travel just under 1000 ft to their feeding grounds using their feet and tail to propel them through the water at a steady speed of 2.5-4.5 miles per hour, using their flippers to help guide their movements.  Also, Adélies bones are very dense which helps them stay submerged longer and minimizes the energy spent on staying below the surface.  Adélies breathe while they are swimming by a series of movements called porpoising, which they leap out of the water and into their air.  They have been to go as deep as 660 ft underwater in search of food, but normally don’t venture more than 150 ft below the surface for hunting.

    When walking on land Adélies walk on the soles of their feet, unlike the majority of birds, which use their toes.  By foot Adélies can reach a consistent pace of 1.5 miles per hour, but in the abundance of snow they will drop to their chests and toboggan through the snow surging their bodies forward with their flippers and toes, at which they can move at speeds faster than a man.