Kooyman Gerald L, van Dam Robert P, Hückstädt Luis A
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Scholander Hall, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Scholander Hall, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
J Exp Biol. 2018 Jan 9;221(Pt 1):jeb170795. doi: 10.1242/jeb.170795.
All through the bird literature and feature films, there is much ado about dedicated emperor penguin males fasting for 115 days while they do all the incubation of the single egg. Sometimes, they may not fast for so long. Based on a winter visit to Cape Washington, we obtained evidence that some birds may feed before the egg is laid, and if they do, and some are males, then their fast is much less than 115 days. The consequence of a shorter fast for the male is a better chance of completing the 65 day incubation fast and success in fledging the chick. For those in northern colonies that may migrate south, there will be closer access to open water, but there will be the need to dive in the dark.
在所有关于鸟类的文献和故事片中，人们都在大肆宣扬帝企鹅雄性会在孵化唯一一枚蛋的整个过程中禁食115天。有时，它们禁食的时间可能没那么长。基于一次冬季对华盛顿角的探访，我们获得了一些证据，表明有些企鹅在产蛋前就会进食，如果是这样，而且其中有些是雄性，那么它们禁食的时间就远少于115天。雄性禁食时间缩短的结果是，它们更有可能完成65天的孵化禁食期，并成功将雏鸟抚养长大。对于那些可能会向南迁徙的北部繁殖地的企鹅来说，它们将更容易接近开阔水域，但需要在黑暗中潜水。
