Huddling and a drop in metabolism allow penguins to survive the South Pole cold ( ologie et Ethologie and Département Int...)

Huddling and a drop in metabolism allow penguins to survive the South Pole cold

ologie et Ethologie and Département Interactions Physique, Chimie et Vivant, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg; and Martine Perret at the Département d'Ecologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Brunoy, France. Their findings appear in the January, 2007 edition of the American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.

Methodology

The research was conducted between April and August 2001 at the emperor penguin colony of Pointe Géologie, near the French station of Dumont d'Urville, Adélie Land, Antarctica. Light durations for the colony site varied from two to 11.5 hours. At the mid-point of the pairing period, between April 22 and May 5, 2001, five pairs of emperor penguins were captured and had devices ("loggers") surgically implanted to record the animals internal temperatures. Pairs were selected in which the males had sufficient body fuel reserves that would ensure success in their incubating task. After implantation, both mates were individually marked with colored strips and released together.

Male and female penguins implanted with the loggers were observed daily in the colony using binoculars, at a distance of at least 10 to 20 meters. Breeding success of the entire colony during 2001 was low at 42 percent. Out of the five pairs studied, three were feeding their chicks until October 2001. The experimental pairs in the study resumed with the expected breeding cycle, and their breeding success was similar to penguin pairs without device implantation.

Results

This study is the first to provide long-term deep body temperature records of unrestrained breeding emperor penguins at their colony. Deep body temperatures of the five free-ranging penguins throughout their breeding cycle were on average 36.7 ± 0.3°C. During the pairing peri
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Source:American Physiological Society

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( ologie et Ethologie and Département Int...)Huddling and a drop in metabolism allow penguins to survive the South Pole cold