Then after traveling
to the islands in 2018,
Lynch’s team got another
surprise: The Danger Islands are home
to more than 1.5 million Adélie penguins.
Before the discovery, scientists had
been concerned that Adélies were dis-
appearing, possibly because of climate
change. But now that they’ve uncov-
ered this super colony, the known Adélie
population in Antarctica is much higher
than experts previously thought.
The Danger Islands colony is like
a giant penguin city. And in fact, all
Adélie penguins typically live in colo-
nies of hundreds of thousands of indi-
viduals. Here’s what a day is like for
these expert city slickers as they live
together in their penguin-packed
homes.
LONG COMMUTE
With the Antarctic sunlight beaming
almost 24 hours a day from October
through February, Adélies can focus on
their “job” of fishing whenever they
want—but no matter what time of day
they go to work, they’re likely to face
a busy commute.
“The Adélies in the Danger Islands
and elsewhere have fairly distinct
highways,” seabird ecologist Barbara
Wienecke says. Throughout the year,
these birds log more than 8,000 miles
on the “road” to nabbing krill, squid,
lanternfish, or jellyfish for dinner,
then commuting back to their nests.
With so many residents on the move,
traffic can be tricky.
“The colonies here are quite dense,
so the paths get incredibly congested,”
Wienecke says. “Like humans, the birds
sometimes have to take detours to
avoid getting stuck in traffic for long
periods of time.”SOUNDS OF THE CITY
Like a busy city, the noise here never
stops. But in Adélie colonies, the sounds
mostly come from penguins!
“They’re vocalizing pretty much all
the time,” penguin expert Dyan deNap-
oli says. Adélie chicks and parents iden-
tify each other mostly by sound—not
by sight. So they squawk on their com-
mute to let their family know they’re
coming back from fishing for the day.
Then Adélie pairs make a croaking
sound when they’re finally reunited.
“Both birds stand opposite each
other and their beaks point into the
sky,” Wienecke says. “They croak as if to
say, ‘I’m home!’” And if they’ve been
away on a long hunting trip, each bird
sings a unique hum to make sure
they’ve found the correct partner.
The chatter isn’t all sweet, though.
As in any city, neighbors don’t always
get along. “If a neighbor gets too close,
an Adélie can sound a nest alarm by
making loud, sharp calls, which basically
mean ‘This is my nest! Go away!’”
Wienecke says.
And don’t forget the sounds they
make while pooping. “There’s a lot of
splat sounds when they go, which is
often,” deNapoli says. “They poop all
over each other, all the time.”ADÉLIES DIVE
FOR FOOD TO
FEED THEM-
SELVES AND
THEIR CHICKS.ADÉLIES TRAVEL
ALONG WELL-
WORN HIGHWAYS
TO MOVE AROUND
THEIR LARGE
COLONIES.Emperors
reach nearly four
feet tall and can weigh
up to 50 pounds;
Adélies only stand
up to two feet tall
and weigh about
10 pounds.Just two
penguin species live
only in Antarctica:
Adélies and emperor
penguins.PEBBLE NESTS