Adélie penguin
Pygoscelis adeliae (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1841)
The adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae), also called the Adelie penguin, is a bird in the penguin family Spheniscidae, order Sphenisciformes. It is a medium-sized, marine, aquatic predator and carnivore, with a representative adult body mass of 4.8 kg and reported values from 4.72 to 5.35 kg.
Quick facts about the adélie penguin
It lays 2 eggs per clutch and one clutch per year, the eggs are incubated for 34 days, and it reaches sexual maturity at 3.7 years. The adélie penguin is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, is partially migratory and has a geographic range of 148,200 km².
- Weight
- 4.72 kg – 5.35 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 18 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- marinesrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 34 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 3.74 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the adélie penguin
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the adélie penguin live?
Not recorded
What is the adélie penguin?
The Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) is a species of penguin common along the entire coast of the Antarctic continent. It is the most widespread penguin species in the Antarctic, and, along with the emperor penguin, is the most southerly distributed of all penguins. It is named after Adélie Land, in turn, named for Adèle Dumont d'Urville, who was married to French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville, who first discovered this penguin in 1840. Adélie penguins obtain their food by both predation and foraging, with a diet of mainly krill and fish.
From the Wikipedia article “Adélie penguin” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ad%C3%A9lie_penguin&oldid=1384169762), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the adélie penguin endangered?
The adélie penguin is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the adélie penguin classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderSphenisciformes
- familySpheniscidae
- genusPygoscelis
- SpeciesPygoscelis adeliae (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1841)
Synonyms Catarrhactes adeliae
Other names and names in other languages (49)
- Adelie penguinEnglish
- Adelie penguinEnglish
- Adelie penguinEnglish
- AdeliepikkewynAfrikaans
- بطريق آديليArabic
- Пингвин на АделиBulgarian
- pingüí d'AdèliaCatalan
- tučňák kroužkovýCzech
- pengwin AdélieWelsh
- AdeliepingvinDanish
- AdeliepinguinGerman
- Adelie-PinguinGerman
- AdeliopingvenoEsperanto
- adelia pingvenoEsperanto
- Pingüino adelaidaSpanish
- Pingüino de AdeliaSpanish
- Pingüino ojo blancoSpanish
- adeelia pingviinEstonian
- jääpingviiniFinnish
- Manchot AdélieFrench
- Manchot AdelieFrench
- Manchot d'AdélieFrench
- Manchot d’AdélieFrench
- adelijski pingvinCroatian
- Adélie-pingvinHungarian
- Ադելի պինգվինArmenian
- Penguin AdélieIndonesian
- Pinguino di AdeliaItalian
- Pigoscelide di AdeliaItalian
- アデリーペンギンJapanese
- 아델리펭귄Korean
- Adelės Žemės pingvinasLithuanian
- AdéliepinguïnDutch
- Adélie-pinguïnDutch
- Pingwin AdeliPolish
- pingwin białookiPolish
- Pinguim de AdéliaPortuguese
- pinguim-de-adéliaPortuguese
- Пингвин АделиRussian
- tučniak okatýSlovak
- Adeli pingvinSerbian
- adéliepingvinSwedish
- เพนกวินอะเดลี่Thai
- penguenTurkish
- Adeli PengueniTurkish
- Adelie pengueniTurkish
- пінгвін АделіUkrainian
- 阿德利企鵝Chinese
- 阿德利企鹅Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the adélie penguin
Other species in the same genus Pygoscelis.
Gentoo penguin
Pygoscelis papua
Chinstrap penguin
Pygoscelis antarcticus
CompareAdélie penguin vs Gentoo penguinAdélie penguin vs Chinstrap penguinAdélie penguin vs Pygoscelis tyreeiAdélie penguin vs Pygoscelis calderensis
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
How heavy is an adélie penguin?
An adult Adélie penguin has a representative body mass of 4.8 kg, with reported values from 4.72 to 5.35 kg.
Is the adélie penguin endangered?
No. The adélie penguin is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does an adélie penguin live?
The adélie penguin has a lifespan of 18 years.
How many eggs does the adélie penguin lay?
The adélie penguin lays 2 eggs per clutch and one clutch per year, and the eggs are incubated for 34 days.
What kind of animal is the adélie penguin?
The adélie penguin is a bird in the penguin family Spheniscidae, order Sphenisciformes.
Does the adélie penguin migrate?
Yes, the adélie penguin is partially migratory.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/adelie-penguin
“Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/adelie-penguin.
@misc{adelie_penguin_2026,
title = {Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/adelie-penguin},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}