Editing Adélie penguin (section)

==Status==
[[File:Mount Erebus.png|thumb|right|Adélie penguins and [[Mount Erebus]], photographed during the [[Terra Nova Expedition|''Terra Nova'' Expedition]] of 1913]]
Because of its very large and increasing population (estimated at more than 10 million mature individuals in 2020), and its unfragmented habitat, the Adélie penguin is considered by the [[International Union for Conservation of Nature]] to be a species of [[least concern]].{{sfn|BirdLife International|2020}}

A comprehensive census of the global Adélie penguin population was carried out in 2014 using analysis of high-resolution satellite images in combination with actual field surveys. The researchers looked for [[guano]]-discoloured coastal areas (red/brown patches in areas with no snow) in the satellite images, and augmented their findings with field surveys in areas where no good satellite images were available or where the presence of multiple penguins species was suspected. The results of field surveys were only used if they had been done within the previous four years. This census found an estimated 3.79 million breeding pairs in 251 distinct breeding colonies, including more than 40 that had never been surveyed before,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://birdsnews.com/2014/adelie-penguins-thriving-amid-antarcticas-melting-ice/ |title=Adelie Penguins thriving amid Antarctica's melting ice |work=Birds News |first=Rex |last=Graham |date=15 July 2014 |access-date=16 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605053724/https://birdsnews.com/2014/adelie-penguins-thriving-amid-antarcticas-melting-ice/ |archive-date=5 June 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> a 53% increase over a census completed 20 years earlier. The colonies are distributed around the coastline of the Antarctic land and ocean. Colonies have declined on the [[Antarctic Peninsula]] since the early 1980s,<ref name="Telegraph">{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/3318079/Penguins-now-threatened-by-global-warming.html|title=Penguins now threatened by global warming|work=The Telegraph|first=Paul|last=Eccleston|date=11 December 2007|access-date=5 April 2018|archive-date=16 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616073858/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/3318079/Penguins-now-threatened-by-global-warming.html|url-status=live}}</ref> but those declines have been more than offset by increases in [[East Antarctica]]{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}. During the breeding season, they congregate in large breeding colonies, some over a quarter of a million pairs.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Schwaller | first1 = M. R. | last2 = Southwell | first2 = C. J. | last3 = Emmerson | first3 = L. M. | title = Continental-scale mapping of Adélie penguin colonies from Landsat imagery | doi = 10.1016/j.rse.2013.08.009 | journal = Remote Sensing of Environment | volume = 139 | pages = 353–64 | year = 2013 | bibcode = 2013RSEnv.139..353S | doi-access = free }}</ref> Individual colonies can vary dramatically in size, and some may be particularly vulnerable to climate fluctuations.<ref>{{cite news| url= http://www.3news.co.nz/Winners-and-losers-as-climate-change-hits-Antarctica/tabid/1160/articleID/292941/Default.aspx| work= 3 News NZ| title= Climate change winners and losers| date= 4 April 2013| access-date= 27 May 2013| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131102000559/http://www.3news.co.nz/Winners-and-losers-as-climate-change-hits-Antarctica/tabid/1160/articleID/292941/Default.aspx| archive-date= 2 November 2013| url-status= dead}}</ref> The [[Danger Islands]] have been identified as an "important bird area" by [[BirdLife International]] largely because it supports Adélie penguin colonies,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/danger-islands-iba-antarctica/text |title=BirdLife Data Zone |website=[[BirdLife International]] |access-date=2018-03-04 |archive-date=5 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190105200852/http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/danger-islands-iba-antarctica/text |url-status=live }}</ref> with 751,527 pairs recorded in at least five distinct colonies. In March 2018, a colony of 1.5 million was discovered.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Borowicz|first1=Alex|last2=McDowall|first2=Philip|last3=Youngflesh|first3=Casey|last4=Sayre-McCord|first4=Thomas|last5=Clucas|first5=Gemma|last6=Herman|first6=Rachael|last7=Forrest|first7=Steven|last8=Rider|first8=Melissa|last9=Schwaller|first9=Mathew|date=2018-03-02|title=Multi-modal survey of Adélie penguin mega-colonies reveals the Danger Islands as a seabird hotspot|journal=Scientific Reports|language=En|volume=8|issue=1|pages=3926|doi=10.1038/s41598-018-22313-w|pmid=29500389|pmc=5834637|bibcode=2018NatSR...8.3926B|issn=2045-2322}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/03/02/nasa-satellite-images-poop-lead-researchers-penguin-supercolony/388114002/ |title=NASA satellite images of poop lead researchers to penguin 'supercolony' |last=May |first=Ashley |date=2 March 2018 |work=[[USA Today]] |access-date=2018-03-04 |archive-date=19 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619223941/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/03/02/nasa-satellite-images-poop-lead-researchers-penguin-supercolony/388114002/ |url-status=live }}</ref>