Emperor penguin body surfaces cool below air temperature

• 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

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...