Summary
In order to understand water loss regulation of bird eggs in very dry climates eggs of the Adelie Penguin were studied at Cape Bird, Ross Island, Antarctica. During incubation 125 g Adelie Penguin eggs lose about 447 mg of water per day, resulting in an overall estimated loss, during 35 days of incubation, of 13% of their initial mass. The eggshell conductance of 13.1 mg H2O·day-1·torr-1 occurs from 9100 pores with an effective radius and pore length of 11 μm and 600 μm, respectively. In this study the water vapor pressure of the egg was 44 torr, estimated from the egg temperature of 35.9°C. Ambient temperature was-4°C, with an absolute humidity of less than 3 torr, resulting in an overall vapor pressure difference between the egg and the environment of 41 torr. This difference was divided between the egg and nest conductance in a ratio of ca. 1:5.
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Rahn, H., Hammel, H.T. Incubation water loss, shell conductance, and pore dimensions in Adelie Penguin eggs. Polar Biol 1, 91–97 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00263805
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00263805