Pygoscelis adeliae
Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
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.
The first Adélie penguin specimens were collected by crew members of French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville on his expedition to Antarctica in the late 1830s and early 1840s. Jacques Bernard Hombron and Honoré Jacquinot, two French surgeons who doubled as naturalists on the journey, described the bird for science in 1841, giving it the scientific name Catarrhactes adeliæ. They used specimens collected from an area of the continent which had been named "terre Adélie", French for Adélie Land, itself named for Dumont d'Urville's wife, Adèle. The bird was later placed in several other genera, including Eudyptes, Pygoscelis...
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antarctic Peninsula & South Shetland Islands | 🇦🇶 Antarctica |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zhuhai Chimelong Ocean Kingdom | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 2 | Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 3 | SeaWorld Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Chimelong Spaceship | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 5 | SeaWorld San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | SeaWorld Abu Dhabi | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | |
| 7 | Guadalajara Zoo | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 8 | Faunia | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Discovery Cove | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Safari Masai Mara | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 11 | Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 12 | The Sea Shell | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 13 | 海兽馆 | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 14 | National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report an Adelie Penguin sighting in Antarctic Peninsula & South Shetland Islands on a given day, based on 1,531 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 13th most-seen of the 29 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report an Adelie Penguin in Antarctic Peninsula & South Shetland Islands on a given day, against about 30% in February–March and October, the lowest months. April to September have too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Adelie Penguin sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Antarctic Peninsula & South Shetland Islands, in our data
Antarctic Peninsula & South Shetland Islands is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Adelie Penguin sightings: about 50% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Pygoscelis
The closest relatives of the Adelie Penguin that you can see in Antarctic Peninsula & South Shetland Islands (genus Pygoscelis, Brush-tailed Penguins) are Gentoo Penguin (about 90%) and Chinstrap Penguin (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Adelie Penguin is recorded against all the birds logged in Antarctic Peninsula & South Shetland Islands (1,531 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
