Les trois jeûnes du manchot royal. Comparaison avec le jeûne de reproduction du manchot empereur

• Main Authors: CHEREL, Yves, ROBIN, Jean-Patrice, LE MAHO, Yvon
• Other Authors: CNRS, laboratoire d'études des régulations physiologiques, 23 rue Becquerel, F-67087 Strasbourg, FRA
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: French
• Published: Société nationale de protection de la nature et d'acclimatation de France, Paris (FRA) 1988
• Subjects: Jeûne alimentaire prolongé; Protéine de réserve; Catabolisme; Aves; Iles Crozet; Métabolisme; Milieu marin; Aptenodytes forsteri; Aptenodytes patagonica; Starvation; Storage protein; Catabolism; Crozet Islands; Metabolism; Marine environment; Antarctic; Empereur; Manchot; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2042/55333

Protein sparing is a major factor for surviving starvation. To investigate its mechanisms, which are still largely unknown, antarctic penguins are remarkable animal models. Under natural conditions, they tolerate extremely long fasts, which facilitate the comparison of the successive phases characterizing changes in the utilization of protein and lipid reserves . Our investigations demonstrate that the daily body mass loss per unit body mass reflects protein catabolism. The high efficiency of male Emperor penguin and King penguin chicks for protein sparing seems to be related to the large lipid reserves they store before fasting