An adult Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) raising two chicks in the colony of Petrel Island, Adélie Land was observed feeding food to its own mate. Electronic Supplementary Material is available if you access this article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-002-0429-0. On that page (frame on the left side), a link takes you directly to the supplementary material.