JAY DICKMGEOGRAPHIC IMAN / GETTY IMAGE COLLECTION (ADAGES (DIVING ADÉLIE COMÉLIES); © KENT, BRECK P. / ANIMMUTE); CULTURA RF / BRETT PHIBBS / GETTY IMALS ANIMALS (DANGER ISLANDS COLONY); RALPH LEE HOPKINS / NATIONAL AGES (ADÉLIE WITH OPEN BEAK); TUI DE ROY / NPL / MINDEN
PICTURES (JUST CHILLIN’ 1); WILLIAM ERVIN / SCIENCE SOURCE (JUST CHILLIN’ 2); BRENT STEPHENSON / NPL / MINDEN PICTURES (JUST CHILLIN’ 3) NAT GEO KIDS (^15)
WATCH A VIDEO OF CUTE PENGUINS AT PLAY.
natgeokids.com/december
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JUST CHILLIN’
3 WAYS ADÉLIES ARE BUILT TO THRIVE IN ANTARCTICA.
MORE THAN 1.
MILLION ADÉLIE
PENGUINS LIVE
IN THIS CROWDED
COLONY ON THE
DANGER ISLANDS.
AN ADÉLIE PENGUIN
CROAKS TO LET ITS
PARTNER KNOW IT’S
RETURNED FROM SEA.
THEY HAVE BUILT-IN SALT SUCKERS.
Adélies drink salty seawater and ingest food
full of salt. Most animals (including humans)
would become ill after consuming so much
salt, but Adélies have special glands located
above their eyes. These glands act like
filters, sucking salt out of their insides and
sending it through their nostrils. “All they
have to do is sneeze or shake their head, and
droplets of salty water spray out,” penguin
expert Dyan deNapoli says. “It sometimes
looks like they have runny noses!”
THEY WEAR THE ULTIMATE
WINTER COAT.
Each Adélie feather keeps the
birds warm and dry in more than
one way. A fluffy section at the
bottom traps and holds in body
heat, and a stiff section at the top
repels water. “The tips have micro-
scopic pieces called barbules that
connect the feathers like Velcro,”
deNapoli says. “This creates a
barrier so water can’t touch their
skin.” Adélies also have feathers
that extend down their beaks
farther than other penguin spe-
cies. “These feathers are likely for
warming air going into their lungs
because it’s so cold and windy
where they nest,” deNapoli says.
THEY HAVE FIERCE FEET.
Since Adélies can’t fly, they rely on their
pink feet to get them places. Those tough,
bumpy feet have nails that aid the birds in
climbing the rocky Antarctic cliffs where
they typically build their nests. The birds
also use their nails to push themselves for-
ward when they’re tobogganing, or sliding,
along the surface of snow and ice. Along
with their small wings, which they use like
flippers in the ocean, Adélies use their
webbed feet to propel themselves when
they’re swimming in chilly Antarctic waters.
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