Emperor Penguins Use Travelling Wave to Keep Warm During Winter (Video)

First Posted: Dec 17, 2013 11:06 AM EST
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Emperor penguins are adept at staying warm during the frigid Antarctic winter. They huddle together to retain body heat. Now, though, scientists have used a mathematical model to reveal that penguins use the same stop-and-go movements like cars in a traffic jam in order to stave off the winter chill and that an individual penguin needs to only move 2 cm in any direction for its neighbor to react and also perform a step to stay close to it.

In a previous study, the researchers examined time-lapse videos and saw that instead of remaining still, huddling penguins actually move every 30 to 60 seconds. This, in turn, causes the surrounding penguins to move with them. While these traveling waves were documented, though, researchers had no explanation as to how these waves propagate and how they are triggered.

In order to examine this penguin movement, the researchers used a mathematical model. This model had previously been used to study traffic jams. The scientists then compared the results with an analysis of video recordings of a real-life penguin huddle.

So what did they find? Unlike a traffic jam, the waves of movements in a penguin huddle can originate from any single penguin and can propagate in any direction as soon as a sufficient gap, known as a "threshold distance" develops between two penguins. This threshold distance was estimated to be about 2 cm, which is twice the thickness of a penguin's compressive feather layer. This suggests that penguins only touch each other slightly when standing in a huddle. This would allow the penguins to maintain a "fluffy" feather layer and not compromise their own insulation.

"We were really surprised that a travelling wave can be triggered by any penguin in a huddle, rather than penguins on the outside trying to push in," said Daniel Zitterbart, one of the researchers, in a news release. "We also found it amazing how two waves, if triggered shortly after each other, merged instead of passing one another, making sure the huddle remains compact."

The findings are published in the New Journal of Physics.

Want to see the penguins for yourself? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube.

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