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Penguins exploit tidal currents for efficient navigation and opportunistic foraging

Richard M. Gunner, Flavio Quintana, Mariano H. Tonini, Mark Holton Orcid Logo, Ken Yoda, Margaret C. Crofoot, Rory Wilson Orcid Logo

PLOS Biology, Volume: 23, Issue: 7, Start page: e3002981

Swansea University Authors: Mark Holton Orcid Logo, Rory Wilson Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1371/ journal.pbio.3002981

Abstract

Animals navigating in fluid environments often face forces from wind or water currents that challenge travel efficiency and route accuracy. We investigated how 27 Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) adapt their navigation strategies to return to their colony amid regional tidal ocean curre...

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Published in: PLOS Biology
ISSN: 1545-7885
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69974
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spelling 2025-07-18T12:41:58.4689988 v2 69974 2025-07-15 Penguins exploit tidal currents for efficient navigation and opportunistic foraging 0e1d89d0cc934a740dcd0a873aed178e 0000-0001-8834-3283 Mark Holton Mark Holton true false 017bc6dd155098860945dc6249c4e9bc 0000-0003-3177-0177 Rory Wilson Rory Wilson true false 2025-07-15 BGPS Animals navigating in fluid environments often face forces from wind or water currents that challenge travel efficiency and route accuracy. We investigated how 27 Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) adapt their navigation strategies to return to their colony amid regional tidal ocean currents. Using GPS-enhanced dead-reckoning loggers and high-resolution ocean current data, we reconstructed penguin travel vectors during foraging trips to assess their responses to variable currents during their colony-bound movements. By integrating estimates of energy costs and prey pursuits, we found that birds balanced direct navigation with current-driven drift: in calm currents, they maintained precise line-of-sight headings to their colony. In stronger currents, they aligned their return with lateral flows, which increased travel distance, but at reduced energy costs, and provided them with increased foraging opportunities. Since the lateral tidal currents always reversed direction over the course of return paths, the penguins’ return paths were consistently S-shaped but still resulted in the birds returning efficiently to their colonies. These findings suggest that Magellanic penguins can sense current drift and use it to enhance energy efficiency by maintaining overall directional accuracy while capitalizing on foraging opportunities. Journal Article PLOS Biology 23 7 e3002981 Public Library of Science (PLoS) 1545-7885 17 7 2025 2025-07-17 10.1371/ journal.pbio.3002981 Short report COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee The funding for this work was supported by the National Agency for Science Promotion, Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva, Argentina (PICT2018-01480 to FQ). 2025-07-18T12:41:58.4689988 2025-07-15T13:45:13.4706143 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Richard M. Gunner 1 Flavio Quintana 2 Mariano H. Tonini 3 Mark Holton 0000-0001-8834-3283 4 Ken Yoda 5 Margaret C. Crofoot 6 Rory Wilson 0000-0003-3177-0177 7 69974__34802__b85aeb1d8a0041919b86f325d34b3e04.pdf 69974.VOR.pdf 2025-07-18T12:38:53.1995818 Output 1643368 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 Gunner et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Penguins exploit tidal currents for efficient navigation and opportunistic foraging
spellingShingle Penguins exploit tidal currents for efficient navigation and opportunistic foraging
Mark Holton
Rory Wilson
title_short Penguins exploit tidal currents for efficient navigation and opportunistic foraging
title_full Penguins exploit tidal currents for efficient navigation and opportunistic foraging
title_fullStr Penguins exploit tidal currents for efficient navigation and opportunistic foraging
title_full_unstemmed Penguins exploit tidal currents for efficient navigation and opportunistic foraging
title_sort Penguins exploit tidal currents for efficient navigation and opportunistic foraging
author_id_str_mv 0e1d89d0cc934a740dcd0a873aed178e
017bc6dd155098860945dc6249c4e9bc
author_id_fullname_str_mv 0e1d89d0cc934a740dcd0a873aed178e_***_Mark Holton
017bc6dd155098860945dc6249c4e9bc_***_Rory Wilson
author Mark Holton
Rory Wilson
author2 Richard M. Gunner
Flavio Quintana
Mariano H. Tonini
Mark Holton
Ken Yoda
Margaret C. Crofoot
Rory Wilson
format Journal article
container_title PLOS Biology
container_volume 23
container_issue 7
container_start_page e3002981
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 1545-7885
doi_str_mv 10.1371/ journal.pbio.3002981
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 1
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description Animals navigating in fluid environments often face forces from wind or water currents that challenge travel efficiency and route accuracy. We investigated how 27 Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) adapt their navigation strategies to return to their colony amid regional tidal ocean currents. Using GPS-enhanced dead-reckoning loggers and high-resolution ocean current data, we reconstructed penguin travel vectors during foraging trips to assess their responses to variable currents during their colony-bound movements. By integrating estimates of energy costs and prey pursuits, we found that birds balanced direct navigation with current-driven drift: in calm currents, they maintained precise line-of-sight headings to their colony. In stronger currents, they aligned their return with lateral flows, which increased travel distance, but at reduced energy costs, and provided them with increased foraging opportunities. Since the lateral tidal currents always reversed direction over the course of return paths, the penguins’ return paths were consistently S-shaped but still resulted in the birds returning efficiently to their colonies. These findings suggest that Magellanic penguins can sense current drift and use it to enhance energy efficiency by maintaining overall directional accuracy while capitalizing on foraging opportunities.
published_date 2025-07-17T05:29:37Z
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