Abstract
The foraging ecology of seven Gentoo penguins,Pygoscelis papua, breeding at Ardley Island, Antarctica was studied using animal-attached devices which recorded swimming speed, heading and dive depth. Reconstruction of the foraging routes by vectorial analysis of the data indicated that at no time did the birds forage on the sea bed. Swimming speed was relatively constant at 1.7 m s-1, but rates of descent and ascent in the water column during dives increased with increasing maximum dive depth due to changes in descent and ascent angles. The amount of time spent discending and ascending in the water column increased with maximum dive depth as did the duration spent at the point of maximum depth. Dive profiles were essentially either U-shaped (flat-bottomed dives), or V-shaped (bounce dives). Development of a model based on simple probability theory indicated that the optimal dive profile to maximize the chances of prey acquisition depends on vertical prey distribution and on the visual capabilities of the birds with respect to descent and ascent angles.
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Communicated by O. Kinne, Oldendorf/Luhe
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Wilson, R.P., Culik, B.M., Peters, G. et al. Diving behaviour of gentoo penguins,Pygoscelis papua; factors keeping dive profiles in shape. Mar. Biol. 126, 153–162 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00571387
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00571387