Which penguin species travels up to 13,000 km annually during its migration?

The Adélie penguin travels up to about 13,000 kilometres annually during its migration.

Adélie penguins that breed around Antarctica follow seasonal sea-ice and sunlight patterns. In the Ross Sea region, they move from breeding colonies to winter foraging grounds and back again, making the round trip far longer than the straight-line distance between locations. They feed mainly at sea, taking krill and fish.

The figure is an annual travel distance, not a single uninterrupted flight. Penguins cannot fly through the air; they migrate by walking, swimming and moving across sea ice. Their routes also vary by colony and year.

A common mix-up is with emperor penguins, which also live in Antarctica but are famous for their extreme winter breeding cycle rather than this particular migration figure. Adélies are smaller, black-and-white penguins with a distinctive white eye ring.