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Catalyst: Penguin wave better than a group hug!

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A group of Emperor penguins stand on ice
Catalyst: Penguin wave better than a group hug!

SUBJECTS:  Science

YEARS:  5–6


Emperor penguins form a big, tightly packed huddle to keep warm in Antarctica, the coldest and windiest continent on Earth.

But how do the ones on the outside of the huddle keep warm? Find out about a clever way of ensuring that no penguin is left out in the cold.


Things to think about

  1. 1.Antarctica is an extreme environment with a very cold, harsh climate. What are some animals that live in Antarctica, or that visit there? Animals that live in very cold climates are adapted to life in the cold. What are some adaptations that help animals to survive in extremely cold places like Antarctica?
  2. 2.By sticking together in a huddle, emperor penguins can reduce what by half? Why is it important that the huddle is re-organised? What do penguins do every 30 to 60 seconds in the huddle, and what does this create?
  3. 3.Explain how emperor penguins' huddling behaviour helps to keep them warm, and effectively makes sure that no individual penguin is left to freeze on the outside of the huddle. The huddling behaviour of penguins is a behavioural adaptation. Do you know any physical adaptations, such as body features, that help penguins survive the cold?
  4. 4.We know how penguin huddles work because of time-lapse photography used by scientists. Explain or find out what time-lapse photography is. Why is this technique so useful in researching penguin huddles?


Acknowledgements

Image credit: 'Emperor penguins', courtesy lin padgham (Flickr).


Date of broadcast: 22 Sep 2011


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Posted , updated