More about Adélie penguins

Adélie penguins live in one of the world’s harshest environments, with temperatures reaching -40^oc. They can swim up to 4 metres per second and dive to depths of up to 180m.

Location: Antarctic – within the Antarctic Circle

Habitat: Sea ice along the coast and surrounding islands

Wild population: Approximately 2.5 million pairs in 160 colonies

The threats to Adélie penguins

• Climate change. Rising global temperatures mean the sea ice is melting, taking away precious nesting grounds and affecting vital food sources such as krill - tiny shrimp-like crustaceans that feed off algae found on the underside of ice sheets.

How your adoption can help:

• £60 (or £5 a month) could pay for helicopter fuel for one hour when tracking penguins across the rugged Antarctic terrain

The penguins of Adélie land

You can adopt five Adélie penguins – a mix of male and female individuals from a colony of 500-600 at the Dumont d’Urville base on Pointe Géologie archipelago, in an area of the Antarctic known as Adélie land. We are monitoring the colony to find out how they are adapting to climate change.