New insights into the huddling dynamics of emperor penguins
International audience Social thermoregulation is a cooperative strategy in which animals actively aggregate to benefit from thewarmth of conspecifics in response to low ambient temperatures. Emperor penguins, Aptenodytes forsteri,use this behaviour to ensure their survival and reproduction during t...
Published in: | Animal Behaviour |
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Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-01253590 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.019 |
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fthalin2p3:oai:HAL:hal-01253590v1 2024-05-19T07:29:31+00:00 New insights into the huddling dynamics of emperor penguins Ancel, André Gilbert, Caroline Poulin, Nicolas Beaulieu, Michaël Thierry, Bernard Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC) Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC) Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire Maisons-Alfort École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort (ENVA) Institut de Recherche Mathématique Avancée (IRMA) Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Zoological Institute & Museum Universität Greifswald - University of Greifswald IPEV 2015 https://hal.science/hal-01253590 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.019 en eng HAL CCSD Elsevier info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.019 hal-01253590 https://hal.science/hal-01253590 doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.019 ISSN: 0003-3472 EISSN: 1095-8282 Animal Behaviour https://hal.science/hal-01253590 Animal Behaviour, 2015, 110, pp.91-98. ⟨10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.019⟩ aggregation Antarctica aptenodytes forsteri energy saving environment huddling social thermoregulation [SDE]Environmental Sciences info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2015 fthalin2p3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.019 2024-05-01T00:06:01Z International audience Social thermoregulation is a cooperative strategy in which animals actively aggregate to benefit from thewarmth of conspecifics in response to low ambient temperatures. Emperor penguins, Aptenodytes forsteri,use this behaviour to ensure their survival and reproduction during the Antarctic winter. An emperorpenguin colony consists of a dynamic mosaic of compact zones, the so-called huddles, included in alooser network of individuals. To maximize energy savings, birds should adjust their huddling behaviouraccording to environmental conditions. Here, we examined the dynamics of emperor penguin aggregations,based on photo and video records, in relation to climatic factors. Environmental temperature,wind and solar radiation were the main factors contributing to huddle formation. The analysis of individualmovements showed that birds originating from loose aggregations continually joined huddles.Sometimes, a small number of birds induced a movement that propagated to the entire huddle, causingits breakup within 2 min and releasing birds, which then integrated into looser aggregations. Differentparts of the colony therefore appeared to continually exchange individuals in response to environmentalconditions. A likely explanation is that individuals in need of warmth join huddles, whereas individualsseeking to dissipate heat break huddles apart. The regular growth and decay of huddles operates aspulses through which birds gain, conserve or lose heat. Originally proposed to account for reducingenergy expenditure, the concept of social thermoregulation appears to cover a highly dynamic phenomenonthat fulfils a genuine regulatory function in emperor penguins. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Aptenodytes forsteri Emperor penguins HAL-IN2P3 (Institut national de physique nucléaire et de physique des particules) Animal Behaviour 110 91 98 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
HAL-IN2P3 (Institut national de physique nucléaire et de physique des particules) |
op_collection_id |
fthalin2p3 |
language |
English |
topic |
aggregation Antarctica aptenodytes forsteri energy saving environment huddling social thermoregulation [SDE]Environmental Sciences |
spellingShingle |
aggregation Antarctica aptenodytes forsteri energy saving environment huddling social thermoregulation [SDE]Environmental Sciences Ancel, André Gilbert, Caroline Poulin, Nicolas Beaulieu, Michaël Thierry, Bernard New insights into the huddling dynamics of emperor penguins |
topic_facet |
aggregation Antarctica aptenodytes forsteri energy saving environment huddling social thermoregulation [SDE]Environmental Sciences |
description |
International audience Social thermoregulation is a cooperative strategy in which animals actively aggregate to benefit from thewarmth of conspecifics in response to low ambient temperatures. Emperor penguins, Aptenodytes forsteri,use this behaviour to ensure their survival and reproduction during the Antarctic winter. An emperorpenguin colony consists of a dynamic mosaic of compact zones, the so-called huddles, included in alooser network of individuals. To maximize energy savings, birds should adjust their huddling behaviouraccording to environmental conditions. Here, we examined the dynamics of emperor penguin aggregations,based on photo and video records, in relation to climatic factors. Environmental temperature,wind and solar radiation were the main factors contributing to huddle formation. The analysis of individualmovements showed that birds originating from loose aggregations continually joined huddles.Sometimes, a small number of birds induced a movement that propagated to the entire huddle, causingits breakup within 2 min and releasing birds, which then integrated into looser aggregations. Differentparts of the colony therefore appeared to continually exchange individuals in response to environmentalconditions. A likely explanation is that individuals in need of warmth join huddles, whereas individualsseeking to dissipate heat break huddles apart. The regular growth and decay of huddles operates aspulses through which birds gain, conserve or lose heat. Originally proposed to account for reducingenergy expenditure, the concept of social thermoregulation appears to cover a highly dynamic phenomenonthat fulfils a genuine regulatory function in emperor penguins. |
author2 |
Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC) Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC) Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire Maisons-Alfort École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort (ENVA) Institut de Recherche Mathématique Avancée (IRMA) Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Zoological Institute & Museum Universität Greifswald - University of Greifswald IPEV |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ancel, André Gilbert, Caroline Poulin, Nicolas Beaulieu, Michaël Thierry, Bernard |
author_facet |
Ancel, André Gilbert, Caroline Poulin, Nicolas Beaulieu, Michaël Thierry, Bernard |
author_sort |
Ancel, André |
title |
New insights into the huddling dynamics of emperor penguins |
title_short |
New insights into the huddling dynamics of emperor penguins |
title_full |
New insights into the huddling dynamics of emperor penguins |
title_fullStr |
New insights into the huddling dynamics of emperor penguins |
title_full_unstemmed |
New insights into the huddling dynamics of emperor penguins |
title_sort |
new insights into the huddling dynamics of emperor penguins |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-01253590 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.019 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Aptenodytes forsteri Emperor penguins |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Aptenodytes forsteri Emperor penguins |
op_source |
ISSN: 0003-3472 EISSN: 1095-8282 Animal Behaviour https://hal.science/hal-01253590 Animal Behaviour, 2015, 110, pp.91-98. ⟨10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.019⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.019 hal-01253590 https://hal.science/hal-01253590 doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.019 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.019 |
container_title |
Animal Behaviour |
container_volume |
110 |
container_start_page |
91 |
op_container_end_page |
98 |
_version_ |
1799479708714270720 |