據(jù)美國(guó)《科學(xué)》雜志在線新聞報(bào)道，利用綁在企鵝腿上的微型定位儀,，研究人員最終找到了這個(gè)淡季中的目的地,。整個(gè)冬季，這種鳥類都會(huì)在中南印度洋極地鋒區(qū)的狹窄海域中游水,，在這里,，寒冷的南極海水與來自北方的溫暖海水混合在一起，從而形成了一個(gè)由甲殼綱動(dòng)物構(gòu)成的盛宴,。
研究人員表示,，由于長(zhǎng)冠企鵝的種群數(shù)量正在迅速下降，因此這一發(fā)現(xiàn)突出了保護(hù)這一緊急冬季避難所的重要性,。研究人員在5月15日的《生物學(xué)快報(bào)》網(wǎng)絡(luò)版上報(bào)告了這一發(fā)現(xiàn),。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Biology Letters，doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2009.0265,，C. A. Bost，P. N. Trathan
Where do penguins go during the inter-breeding period? Using geolocation to track the winter dispersion of the macaroni penguin
C. A. Bost1,*, J. B. Thiebot1, D. Pinaud1, Y. Cherel1 and P. N. Trathan2
Although penguins are key marine predators from the Southern Ocean, their migratory behaviour during the inter-nesting period remains widely unknown. Here, we report for the first time, to our knowledge, the winter foraging movements and feeding habits of a penguin species by using geolocation sensors fitted on penguins with a new attachment method. We focused on the macaroni penguin Eudyptes chrysolophus at Kerguelen, the single largest consumer of marine prey among all seabirds. Overall, macaroni penguins performed very long winter trips, remaining at sea during approximately six months within the limits of the Southern Ocean. They departed from Kerguelen in an eastward direction and distributed widely, over more than 3.106 km2. The penguins spent most of their time in a previously unrecognized foraging area, i.e. a narrow latitudinal band (47–49° S) within the central Indian Ocean (70–110° E), corresponding oceanographically to the Polar Frontal Zone. There, their blood isotopic niche indicated that macaroni penguins preyed mainly upon crustaceans, but not on Antarctic krill Euphausia superba, which does not occur at these northern latitudes. Such winter information is a crucial step for a better integrative approach for the conservation of this species whose world population is known to be declining.
