Penguins walk in formation due to the fact that they are waiting in the water predators.
Ukrainian polar explorers from the Antarctic Akademik Vernadsky station showed how penguins “march” to the ocean in formation. The video was published by the National Antarctic Science Center.
“Several times a day, our polar explorers observe an interesting picture: how penguins” march “in organized ranks to the ocean to feast on krill,” the message says.
< p> NANTS biologist Artem Dzhulai explained that penguins walk in formation due to the fact that predators watch them in the water: more often leopard seals, less often killer whales. If the penguins rush for food all together, then the risk for each bird is less than if they eat alone. After all, while the leopard grabs one, others will calmly eat krill.
” Moreover: often penguins push each other to jump first into the water, because the first daredevil is more at risk of becoming a victim. Therefore, sometimes they can stomp on the shore up to half an hour, until the bravest dives into the ocean. Then others rush after him en masse, “the biologist explains.
At the same time, penguins in the water often try to save their comrade who has fallen into the jaws of a leopard. To do this, they begin to circle around the predator so that it unhooked its jaw, trying to capture another prey.
“This is such an interesting evolutionary adaptation,” scientists say.
