The secret life of penguins

Scientists have long wondered what these non-feathered birds do for months on the sea as they prepare for breeding.

A research team from the National Center for Scientific Research (CNSR) attached monitoring devices to the foot of a dozen empty and female macaroni penguins (scientific name Eudyptes chrysolophus ) at winter beginning at pants. Kerguelen island in the Indian Ocean.

Birds swim out to sea a few days later during the annual feeding season and tracking devices record the location, frequency of light and water temperature wherever they come. The following spring, about six months later, the bird returned to Kerguelen beginning the breeding season. Scientists collected the devices and took blood samples to know what birds had eaten in the past half year.

Scientists determined that after leaving Kerguelen, the birds swam quickly to the east, south of the Indian Ocean, spread out over a large area, spending 80% of their time in a geographic area stretching from 47-49 latitudes. male level. The rest of the time they swim further south, near the Antarctic, but not near the ice tip. They swam a surprisingly long distance, averaging 10,430km in six months at sea. The most adventurous bird swims 2,400km from Kerguelen. In the last weeks of the migration season, they swim home like in a race, completing 1,743km of road in just one month.

Blood tests show that penguin's main food when living on the sea is crustaceans, not the mollusks in the region as extreme as ever speculated. This study is important due to the identification of the main feeding area of ​​this bird, thereby helping conservation efforts.