Porpoising

December 11, 2008

Penguins may swim well,  but they’re still birds, and they breathe air. So, like whales and dolphins, they surface every once in a while, arcing from the water to take a quick breath. This is called “porpoising”, and, as more open water appears close to shore, we’ve been seeing it a lot. Groups of penguins will suddenly shoot out of the water, then, just as quickly, disappear back to the land of fishes and krill.

We deployed three satellite tags on adult penguins today, which was a very cold experience, as taping the tags onto feathers requires the dexterity of bare fingers (no gloves). As they swim out to sea to gather food, we now get constant updates on the penguins’ positions via email. When they return in a couple days, we’ll take the tags off and put them on different birds, to lessen the load on any given individual.

Porpoising Penguins

A Penguin Leaps From The Water