Swimming with Adélie Penguins

The Adélie penguins might not be the most popular of the penguins, but they sure are great swimmers. Like all other species of penguins they are flightless – but, oh boy, they can swim! When they’re in the water it is almost as if they’re flying. They can reach speeds of up to 45 miles per hour. This makes them one of the fastest swimming species among penguins. Think about this for a second: the fastest that a human being can run is about 25 miles per hour and that is one of the top runners in the world. Adélie Penguins can swim almost twice as fast as Olympic athletes can run! 

Hollow bones filled with air are commonplace among birds. The light bones make flying much easier. But penguins can’t fly. Their bones are much denser and without all of that empty airspace. The additional weight from their bones helps them stay underwater for longer periods of time. They are kind of like the weighted diving belts that human divers sometimes wear to keep themselves from floating to the surface of the ocean while diving. Adélie Penguins can stay underwater for up to fifteen minutes.

It gets very cold in Antarctica where penguins live. The land is cold, but in the water it is even colder. Since Adélie Penguins spend up to 75% of their time in the water they need a way to keep their bodies from freezing. A very thick layer of skin with a lot of blubber (fat) underneath keeps them warm. This combined with their swimming help them keep their body temperature up. Sometimes when it is very cold Adélie Penguins have to stay on land and huddle together in groups with their friends.