Adelie penguins are my favourite brush-tailed (genus Pygoscelis) penguins – sorry Chinstraps and Gentoos! Of the three Pygoscelis species, they are the smallest and the only ones that toboggan along on their tummies. It’s most efficient when going downhill, but they also use it quite effectively going uphill as well!
On Petermann Island I spent a lot of time looking out for Adelies going to and from their colony, so I could isolate one against the snow for a photograph. While they look quite sleek from the side, from front-on they appear distinctly rotund, and this ended up being one of my favourite Adelie penguin tobogganing images! I can just imagine him(or her, penguins are nearly impossible to tell apart) thinking “Zoom!”. It looks like a lot of fun.
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