Many animals engage in elaborate mating rituals. For flight-ready birds, these often involve complex dance moves and peacock-like displays of grandeur. For their land-bound cousins, like the Adélie ...

The practice has been observed among Adélie penguins. For years, people have claimed that penguins trade sex acts for pebbles they use to build their nests: This rumor has spread online since at least ...

This claim is true: The first report of such behavior among Adélie penguins was published in 1998 in The Auk, a peer-review journal since renamed Ornithology: Adélie Penguins are monogamous and breed ...

Photograph of an Adélie penguin breeding colony, Edmonson Point, Antarctica. Adélie penguin nests consist of a shallow scrape, pebbles, and bones. Credit: Carlo Baroni and Maria Cristina Salvatore, ...

Out of all the species of penguins, Adélie penguins are the most well-studied, and for a good reason. Adélies are 2 feet of confident, charismatic, yet seemingly-clumsy birds. Despite their charming ...