Heat loss in Emperor Penguins.

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 Biology:

Heat loss in Emperor Penguins.

Aim:

In this investigate, I intend to explore the way Emperor Penguins form large huddles of birds to keep themselves warm. Emperor Penguins are the largest of their species, and grow up to 1.15m tall. As means of insulation, they have four layers of scale like feathers, and large reserves of body fat to burn for warmth. Nevertheless, in their homeland, Antarctica, temperatures can drop to 60o below zero, and the penguins on their own could not survive. They have however evolved another method of keeping warm: the birds gather in vast numbers and huddle together in huge colonies, or

                                      ‘rookeries.’ Within the colony, each bird takers a turn on both the inside of the group, and on the outside, providing warmth for every individual. I intend to find out how effective these immense gatherings (sometimes containing thousands of birds) are by simulating some with an experiment, and also hope to find out if the size of a huddle is related to the heat lost from the penguins. 

Equipment:

33 small glass beakers

6 thermometers

3 stopwatches

2 elastic bands

1 kettle and water supply (for hot water)

Data recording equipment

Plan:

I wish to find out how varying the amount of birds affects the temperature of the huddle, and how effective the huddle is at keeping the penguins warm. I will use glass beakers filled with hot water to simulate the penguins, and will place the beakers in huddle formations. Each huddle will consist of a central beaker, surrounded by varying ‘layers’ of more beakers. The smallest huddle will contain only 1 layer, the next huddle will contain 2 layers, and the third huddle 3 layers, all with an additional beaker placed in the centre (fig. 1). I will repeat all experiments three times, and then take an average, to ensure more accurate results.

Fig. 1

Beaker                Thermometer

Huddle I:                        Huddle II:                                 Huddle III:                             Control:

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1 layer, 7 beakers                 2 layers, 19 beakers                 3 layers, 33 beakers                     No layers, 1 beaker

I will carry out experiments on Huddles I & II and the Control simultaneously, and do Huddle III on its own, due to limitations in numbers of beakers/thermometers. I will maker sure that all the beakers, as in a real rookery, are all touching. To keep groups held together, they will be encircled by an elastic band. The hot water will come from a kettle.

To time the experiment(s) I will use stopwatches. Every 60 seconds, ...

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