Feeding behaviour of free-ranging penguins determined by oesophageal temperature.

• Published in: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences
• Main Authors: Charrassin, J B, Kato, A, Handrich, Y, Sato, K, Naito, Y, Ancel, A, Bost, C A, Gauthier-Clerc, M, Ropert-Coudert, Y, Le Maho, Y
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2001
• Subjects: Article; The Beak; King Penguins
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1088584; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11209884; https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2000.1343

Sea birds play a major role in marine food webs, and it is important to determine when and how much they feed at sea. A major advance has been made by using the drop in stomach temperature after ingestion of ectothermic prey. This method is less sensitive when birds eat small prey or when the stomac...