Long walk home: Magellanic penguins have strategies that lead them to areas where they can navigate most efficiently.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how animals move in dense environments where vision is compromised is a major challenge. We used GPS and dead-reckoning to examine the movement of Magellanic penguins commuting through vegetation that precluded long-distance vision. Birds leaving the nest followed the shortest, quickest route to the sea (the 'ideal path', or 'I-path') but return tracks depended where the birds left the water. Penguins arriving at the beach departure spot mirrored the departure. Most of those landing at a distance from the departure spot travelled slowly, obliquely to the coast at a more acute angle than a beeline trajectory to the nest. On crossing their I-path, these birds then followed this route quickly to their nests. This movement strategy saves birds distance, time and ene

SUBMITTER: Quintana F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9198806 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature