Author: Jeremy Rehm / Source: Science News
Only months after their first ocean swim, young emperor penguins are braving Antarctica’s treacherous winter seas.
GPS trackers strapped to 15 young penguins showed the birds venturing north to warmer waters beyond Antarctica’s pack ice in December 2013, and returning a few months later as the waters chill.That finding surprised some scientists, who thought the inexperienced juveniles might play it safe closer to the Antarctic sea ice’s edge rather than risk freezing or drowning in the choppy, ice-strewn open sea. After all, “they just learned how to dive a few months beforehand,” says marine ecologist Sara Labrousse at the…
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