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Penguins keep warm with fancyfootwork, study says

A group of emperor penguins pictured on Antarctica's Ross Island. Photo: Gemma Tarlach/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/ MCT

LOS ANGELES If youre in stop-and-go traf c, youre probably frustrated. If youre amale penguin balancing an egg on your feet in Antarctica, that traf c jam is probablykeeping you alive.

Scientists studying huddles of emperor penguins in Antarctica have found that waves of

movement travel though the huddled mass of birds. It's similar to the waves movingthrough cars stuck on the freeway during rush hour. But penguins move in ways thatmaximize how dense the huddle is. This keeps the birds warm as they incubate their eggs.

Emperor penguins are the only large animal species that breeds during the Antarcticwinter. They face freezing winds that blow as fast as 124 miles per hour in an icylandscape that can be as cold as 58 degrees below zero. So they huddle together againstthe harsh elements. In a huddle, their bodies can raise the temperature within two hours toas high as 98.6 degrees.

At rst glance, the penguins may not appear to move much. The males probably cant runanywhere in a rush, in any case. The fathers-to-be cover their eggs with feathered skinknown as a brood pouch, with the eggs resting on top of their feet.

By Los Angeles Times, adapted by Newsela staff on 01.15.14

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So although these emperor penguins dont dance like the characters in Happy Feet, theystill perform some pretty fancy footwork.

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Quiz

1 All of the following relate to penguins' movement in the huddle EXCEPT:

(A) they move about every 35 to 55 seconds

(B) when they move about 2 centimeters, it creates a wave

(C) only certain penguins in the huddle can start the wave

(D) they are careful about how close they get to each other

2 Select the paragraph from the section "Don't Get Your Feathers Ruf ed" which discusses howpenguins can move together without any sort of leader taking charge.

3 What happens whenever a penguin makes an approximately 2-centimeter move?

(A) The penguin gets warmer.

(B) A wave begins throughout the huddle.

(C) The penguin disrupts the complicated "dance."

(D) The feathers of the next penguin get too compressed.

4 How did the new study help explain information found in the previous study?

(A) The new study found how often the waves occur.

(B) The new study found what causes the waves to occur.

(C) The new study showed that "Happy Feet" is based on truth.

(D) The new study discovered the movements are just like a traf c jam.

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Answer Key

1 All of the following relate to penguins' movement in the huddle EXCEPT:

(A) they move about every 35 to 55 seconds

(B) when they move about 2 centimeters, it creates a wave

(C) only certain penguins in the huddle can start the wave

(D) they are careful about how close they get to each other

2 Select the paragraph from the section "Don't Get Your Feathers Ruf ed" which discusses howpenguins can move together without any sort of leader taking charge.

Paragraph 13:The waves arent based on rank. Any penguin can start them. Theyre a productof a simple set of rules governing the space between each penguin and itsimmediate neighbors. And yet, these tiny movements can add up to a large-scale, complicated order. It's similar to the patterns seen in schools of fish,flocks of birds or swarms of ants. These rules allow the penguins to stayorganized, to maximize heat conservation and even to combine two smallerpenguin huddles together.

3 What happens whenever a penguin makes an approximately 2-centimeter move?

(A) The penguin gets warmer.

(B) A wave begins throughout the huddle.

(C) The penguin disrupts the complicated "dance."

(D) The feathers of the next penguin get too compressed.

4 How did the new study help explain information found in the previous study?

(A) The new study found how often the waves occur.

(B) The new study found what causes the waves to occur.

(C) The new study showed that "Happy Feet" is based on truth.

(D) The new study discovered the movements are just like a traf c jam.