Whistle down the wind | Nature

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Penguin colonies are noisy places. The penguins themselves, in their tens of thousands, chatter constantly, and the strong wind adds a significant amount of background noise, as well as


acting as an effective dissipator of any intentional calls.


How do penguins find their mates, or chicks their parents, when the constant, howling wind conspires to sap all the energy from their recognition calls? King penguins (Aptenodytes


patagonicus) get round the problem by exploiting the same tenet of communication theory as is used by announcers at railway stations, constrained to use poor-quality public-address equipment


to get their message across to constantly jostling crowds of commuters in less-than-ideal acoustic conditions.


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