Coordinated Movements Prevent Jamming in an Emperor Penguin Huddle
For Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri), huddling is the key to survival during the Antarctic winter. Penguins in a huddle are packed so tightly that individual movements become impossible, reminiscent of a jamming transition in compacted colloids. It is crucial, however, that the huddle structu...
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ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:30920 2023-05-15T13:46:52+02:00 Coordinated Movements Prevent Jamming in an Emperor Penguin Huddle Zitterbart, Daniel P. Wienecke, Barbara Butler, James P. Fabry, Ben 2011 application/pdf https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/30920/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/30920/1/PLOS-zitterbart2011.pdf https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0020260 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.41958 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.41958.d001 unknown https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/30920/1/PLOS-zitterbart2011.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.41958.d001 Zitterbart, D. P. , Wienecke, B. , Butler, J. P. and Fabry, B. (2011) Coordinated Movements Prevent Jamming in an Emperor Penguin Huddle , PLoS ONE, 6 (6), e20260 . doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020260 <https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0020260> , hdl:10013/epic.41958 EPIC3PLoS ONE, 6(6), pp. e20260, ISSN: 1932-6203 Article isiRev 2011 ftawi https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0020260 2021-12-24T15:37:52Z For Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri), huddling is the key to survival during the Antarctic winter. Penguins in a huddle are packed so tightly that individual movements become impossible, reminiscent of a jamming transition in compacted colloids. It is crucial, however, that the huddle structure is continuously reorganized to give each penguin a chance to spend sufficient time inside the huddle, compared with time spent on the periphery. Here we show that Emperor penguins move collectively in a highly coordinated manner to ensure mobility while at the same time keeping the huddle packed. Every 30–60 seconds, all penguins make small steps that travel as a wave through the entire huddle. Over time, these small movements lead to large-scale reorganization of the huddle. Our data show that the dynamics of penguin huddling is governed by intermittency and approach to kinetic arrest in striking analogy with inert non-equilibrium systems, including soft glasses and colloids. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Aptenodytes forsteri Emperor penguins Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Antarctic The Antarctic Huddle ENVELOPE(-64.983,-64.983,-65.411,-65.411) PLoS ONE 6 6 e20260 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
op_collection_id |
ftawi |
language |
unknown |
description |
For Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri), huddling is the key to survival during the Antarctic winter. Penguins in a huddle are packed so tightly that individual movements become impossible, reminiscent of a jamming transition in compacted colloids. It is crucial, however, that the huddle structure is continuously reorganized to give each penguin a chance to spend sufficient time inside the huddle, compared with time spent on the periphery. Here we show that Emperor penguins move collectively in a highly coordinated manner to ensure mobility while at the same time keeping the huddle packed. Every 30–60 seconds, all penguins make small steps that travel as a wave through the entire huddle. Over time, these small movements lead to large-scale reorganization of the huddle. Our data show that the dynamics of penguin huddling is governed by intermittency and approach to kinetic arrest in striking analogy with inert non-equilibrium systems, including soft glasses and colloids. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Zitterbart, Daniel P. Wienecke, Barbara Butler, James P. Fabry, Ben |
spellingShingle |
Zitterbart, Daniel P. Wienecke, Barbara Butler, James P. Fabry, Ben Coordinated Movements Prevent Jamming in an Emperor Penguin Huddle |
author_facet |
Zitterbart, Daniel P. Wienecke, Barbara Butler, James P. Fabry, Ben |
author_sort |
Zitterbart, Daniel P. |
title |
Coordinated Movements Prevent Jamming in an Emperor Penguin Huddle |
title_short |
Coordinated Movements Prevent Jamming in an Emperor Penguin Huddle |
title_full |
Coordinated Movements Prevent Jamming in an Emperor Penguin Huddle |
title_fullStr |
Coordinated Movements Prevent Jamming in an Emperor Penguin Huddle |
title_full_unstemmed |
Coordinated Movements Prevent Jamming in an Emperor Penguin Huddle |
title_sort |
coordinated movements prevent jamming in an emperor penguin huddle |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/30920/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/30920/1/PLOS-zitterbart2011.pdf https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0020260 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.41958 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.41958.d001 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-64.983,-64.983,-65.411,-65.411) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Huddle |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Huddle |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Aptenodytes forsteri Emperor penguins |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Aptenodytes forsteri Emperor penguins |
op_source |
EPIC3PLoS ONE, 6(6), pp. e20260, ISSN: 1932-6203 |
op_relation |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/30920/1/PLOS-zitterbart2011.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.41958.d001 Zitterbart, D. P. , Wienecke, B. , Butler, J. P. and Fabry, B. (2011) Coordinated Movements Prevent Jamming in an Emperor Penguin Huddle , PLoS ONE, 6 (6), e20260 . doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020260 <https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0020260> , hdl:10013/epic.41958 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0020260 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
e20260 |
_version_ |
1766245472351027200 |