Emperor penguin body surfaces cool below air temperature

Emperor penguins Aptenodytes forsteri are able to survive the harsh Antarctic climate because of specialized anatomical, physiological and behavioural adaptations for minimizing heat loss. Heat transfer theory predicts that metabolic heat loss in this species will mostly depend on radiative and conv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biology Letters
Main Authors: McCafferty, D. J., Gilbert, C., Thierry, A.-M., Currie, J., Le Maho, Y., Ancel, A.
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: The Royal Society 2013
Subjects:
Physiology
Antarctic
Pointe-Géologie
Terre Adélie
Terre-Adélie
The Antarctic
Antarc*
Antarctica
Aptenodytes forsteri
E. Antarctica
Emperor penguins
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3645025
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23466479
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2012.1192
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Summary:Emperor penguins Aptenodytes forsteri are able to survive the harsh Antarctic climate because of specialized anatomical, physiological and behavioural adaptations for minimizing heat loss. Heat transfer theory predicts that metabolic heat loss in this species will mostly depend on radiative and convective cooling. To examine this, thermal imaging of emperor penguins was undertaken at the breeding colony of Pointe Géologie in Terre Adélie (66°40′ S 140° 01′ E), Antarctica in June 2008. During clear sky conditions, most outer surfaces of the body were colder than surrounding sub-zero air owing to radiative cooling. In these conditions, the feather surface will paradoxically gain heat by convection from surrounding air. However, owing to the low thermal conductivity of plumage any heat transfer to the skin surface will be negligible. Future thermal imaging studies are likely to yield further insights into the adaptations of this species to the Antarctic climate.

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