As human beings , who are we to criticize other creatures ' feeding habits ? I intend , we invented the cronut . Some animals , however , ca n’t afford to be picky , so it was with some surprisal that new research suggests Adélie penguins in reality have a particular gustatory sensation for man-of-war with rather prominent sex gland . Each to their own , we approximate .
Last year , researchers from the French and Japanese national Antarctic programs , gage by the World Wildlife Foundation ( WWF ) , studied Adélie penguins in their native habitat using petite “ penguin cams ” to see what they get up to under the internal-combustion engine .
The footage was put out last December and garnered spate of attending as people ’s curio got the ripe of them .
However , the investigator were studying the footage closely too , so as to test and discover all-important selective information about the behavior of these penguins that might help us better understand and protect them . A year later , they have released some of the results .
The fact that penguins like to fertilize on krill is well - documented , however the footage showed that even if krill was available to nosh on , the penguins instead made a beeline for jellyfish with large gonads when they were in the vicinity .
" We were surprised to see the penguins go for jellyfish , “ Jean - Baptiste Thiebot of Japan ’s National Institute of Polar Sciencesaid . “ It raised the question : is this novel behavior for Adélie penguins , peradventure originate because they had a strong time find food during this year of very strange ocean - ice conditions ? Or is it simply newly revealed by using this TV advance to analyze their dieting ? "
The researcher surmise that the reason penguins go for the particularly eye - overtake gonad is because they offer up a high nutritious protein content than the rest of the jellyfish .
The wildlife information gather by the research worker and their penguin cams is being used by the WWF to help in the initiation of marine protected area around the Antarctic . Species like Adélie penguins are already being affect by overfishing and climate change , so realize more about their feeding habits will go a long means towards read the threat nonplus to them and how to manage them in the future .
“ A year on from the release of the penguin Cam River footage , it ’s cleared that we still have a lot to learn about Adélie penguins and other ice mintage , " Rod Downie , WWF Polar Programme Manager , say . " The final result give us a better understanding of how they might answer to mood change and related shimmy in the Antarctic solid food web . "
