On the 25th of April every year, the Adelie penguins in the Antarctic begin their annual northward migration. The Adelies start migrating in the Antarctic fall season and won’t return to their colonies until the following spring. In true synchronized fashion, the Adelies dive into the frigid waters answering their Nature’s call to migrate. They will swim north for only a few hundred miles (around 600km) and stay among icebergs that are floating about, feasting on krill and other penguin delicacies. So really, these penguins don’t actually go anywhere when they migrate. They’ll bob around in the ocean and rest on the ice until it’s time to head back home to Antarctica. Actually, the reason they do this is because the days in Antarctica are becoming darker during this time of year. Adelies do not see too well in the dark so they migrate north so they can hunt for food, otherwise they would starve.
Have a wonderful Penguin Day and try to do something penguinish, whether it be reading more about them, go to the zoo or aquarium, or maybe buying up hordes of penguin merchandise.
Credit: peterkelly at flickr
5 Comments
April 26, 2007 at 10:02 am
Hope you had a wonderful Penguin Day.
April 25, 2008 at 4:06 pm
a charity auction of my Adelie penguin sculptures ends tomorrow (26 april 2008).
Please check “holburne penguin” on ebay.co.uk.
they are life size hand-made in plaster and recently decorated the “70 years of Penguin Publications” at the Holburne museum in Bath, England.
Regards, Ken Grix (architect, modelmaker and scupltor)
April 25, 2008 at 5:34 pm
This is just a reminder that there are no penguins in Alaska, not even at the zoo.
April 25, 2009 at 1:11 am
Happy Penguin Day!
April 26, 2009 at 1:21 am
Ironically, the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated Philadelphia to advance to the next round of the hockey playoffs!