Recent research has shown that the migrations patterns of Adelie penguins is much more interesting than scientists first thought. By tagging birds and monitoring their movements scientists have been able to get a clear indication of how far they travel each year.

In fact the penguins studied travelled an average of 13,000 kilometres per year which is impressive for a flightless bird.

Each year these penguins travel north in order to be able to feed in better light.

Although scientists already knew this what they didn’t know was that the penguins stop around 500 kilometres away from the open ocean, which is where they previously assumed they were heading for.

In order to conserve energy the penguins move with the ice floes which travel in a clockwise direction. This journey is quite slow and means that the penguins do not use up as much energy as they would travelling in an anti clockwise direction.

When the penguins have spent time eating they will then start their return journey back to the colonies.

Once they arrive in their colonies they can then start breeding for the coming season. The reason that the penguins have to return to their colonies before breeding is that they need the land they nest on to be ice free.

The journey back to the colonies is much faster than the migration north and this surprised the scientists who were studying the penguins.

As the climate is changing so is the pattern of migration for the Adelie penguin. As the ice sheets are getting smaller their habitat is moving further south, as are their food supplies.

Unfortunately the Adelie penguins are creatures of habit and they will not relocate from their colonies, which could lead to their extinction in certain areas thanks to the threat of global warming.