Adélie penguins at Possession Island, Antarctica

Love on ice. Love on ice

There’s love in the air here in Antarctica, where these Adélie penguins have congregated after a long winter at sea. October brings them ashore in search of their breeding grounds. Here they’ll pair up and grow their families, gathering in large colonies of thousands and constructing nests made of stones piled together on the shoreline.

Love can be a cruel game, and these penguins are known to steal stones from other nests. But when it comes to parenting, Adélie mates make a progressive couple. Once the pair of eggs arrives, the parents will take turns keeping them warm, and both mum and dad will help raise the chicks. In March, Adélie penguins will return to sea, where they’ll spend their winter foraging among icebergs.