Today we visited the sea ice, where we watched penguins transform themselves from land animals into creatures of the ocean. On shore they shuffle along like toddlers, but as soon as they hit the water their wings rocket them away, full of grace and speed.
Adélie penguins rely on sea ice nearly all year round; it’s only during the breeding season that they come to land. Floating sea ice is an extremely dangerous place for humans to visit, so we know very little about how Adélies spend most of their time. Studying them at the sea ice edge – and monitoring them at sea using splash tags (see yesterday’s post) – are the next best things. By watching the penguins and listening to Ballard, Toniolo, and Lindquist, we learned how they use different types of sea ice, we saw the dangers they face in the water, and we checked in on another icebound penguin species – the stately emperors.
Read on about our adventure in the slideshow below. Can't see the slideshow? Get the Flash plug in»
