QUESTION:
What is the life expectancy of an Antarctic Penguin?
        Russell-Hydesville School, Hydesville, CA
        Ginny Dexter's Class


ANSWER from Carol Vleck, Researcher, Palmer Station, Antarctica
            Fri, 7 Feb 1997 08:47:08 -0600

Dear Russell,

If a penguin can survive infancy and its first years of life, it has a
pretty good chance of living a fairly long life. Many penguin biologists
have banded thousands and thousands of penguins and then followed which
ones come to the colonies year after year.  This is how we can guess at the
average age of a penguin.  The oldest known Adelie penguin living in the
wild was 20 years old, and the big Emperor Penguins might live to as long
as 50 years.  If an Adelie penguins begins to breed early, say at 3 or 4
years of age, it is less likely to live to be 15 or 20 years old than if it
waits until it is 7 or 8 years old to breed for the first time.

Thanks for your question!
Carol