Penguin Escape Velocity
- Gina Hagler
- Apr 18, 2024
- 2 min read
Have you ever seen an Emperor Penguin pop up out of the water, stick the landing, and continue on its way? Could you do that - even given a physical environment that was to scale with that of the penguin's? Probably not. But do you know why?
For years, people watched videos of penguins surfacing, leaving trails of bubbles along the way. The natural assumption was that the bubbles were a byproduct of whatever the birds were doing to move through the water quickly. A quick trip certainly made sense for a small animal trying to reach the surface safely while passing through water that held predators. And, surely, the fastest of the penguins were the ones that mated, introducing any genetic advantage to their offspring. And so on. And so on. Penguin speed was impressive, no doubt about it. And that's where things stood.
Several events occurred within the span of a few years:
2001: BBC Blue Planet series is released.
2006: Happy Feet is released.
2009: Speedo's LZ Racer swim outfit ignites controversy at the Beijing Olympics.
2011: Publication of 'Drag reduction by air release promotes fast ascent in jumping emperor penguins—a novel hypothesis' by Davenport, Hughes, Short, and Larsen by
2012: Bangor University Professor Roger Hughes of the School of Biological Sciences suggests in the November 2012 edition of National Geographic that bubble trails seen in footage of emperor penguins swimming to the sea surface are produced to reduce drag.
In an email exchange, Professor Hughes explained that he and his wife were watching the bubble trails left by the Emperor Penguins. He wondered if there were more to those trails than had been assumed. When meeting with some colleagues at a conference, he mentioned it to them. They were equally intrigued and decided to study the phenomenon of penguin "contrails."
The conclusion? The bubbles are microbubbles. They are not formed merely by the force of water being pushed out from under the wings but rather are microbubbles formed by passing through specific "openings" in the Emperor Penguins' feathers.
The net result: The microbubbles coat the feathers, thus reducing drag and rendering the penguin among the most aerodynamic creatures on the planet.
Note: Professor Hughes passed away in 2015
Image: Blue Planet, BBC
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