Cooling Their Heels
Another king penguin picture from Grytviken, South Georgia. A number of these birds were clustered together in the shallow water that was flowing out over the stone beach from a small creek. They seem to like doing that sort of thing. I've seen photos where there are thousands lining a river of snow and glacier melt. Birds have a system of countercurrent heat exchange in their legs that helps keep them warm in cold weather. I wonder if it works in reverse to help the penguins cool off. It cool for the humans, but perhaps that was not the case for the blubber rich kings. I was not able to find out if it does indeed work both ways, but it seems possible.
Cooling Their Heels
Another king penguin picture from Grytviken, South Georgia. A number of these birds were clustered together in the shallow water that was flowing out over the stone beach from a small creek. They seem to like doing that sort of thing. I've seen photos where there are thousands lining a river of snow and glacier melt. Birds have a system of countercurrent heat exchange in their legs that helps keep them warm in cold weather. I wonder if it works in reverse to help the penguins cool off. It cool for the humans, but perhaps that was not the case for the blubber rich kings. I was not able to find out if it does indeed work both ways, but it seems possible.