Foraging Ecology and Diving Behaviour of Macaroni Penguins Eudyptes Chrysolophus at Heard Island
TL;DRAbstract
Over the chick-rearing period, Macaroni Penguins Eudyptes chrysolophus foraged to the north-east of Heard Island within an approximate 300-km radius, feeding mainly on euphausiids and fish.As the season progressed, the amount of euphausiids in the diet declined by 93% with the diet becoming almost totally composed of the myctophid fish Krefftichthys anderssoni.Penguins foraged mainly on the Heard Island shelf area (seas shallower than 1000 m).Penguin dive profiles were complex, unlike the simple '8' shaped dives recorded elsewhere.Diving was mainly between dawn and dusk to depths of 10-60 m, and the deepest dives were undertaken during daylight hours.The connection between the observed diving patterns and the diet was difficult to elucidate because K. anderssoni only migrates vertically into surface waters at night and is believed to be out of the penguins' diving range during the day.
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Over the chick-rearing period, Macaroni Penguins Eudyptes chrysolophus foraged to the north-east of Heard Island within an approximate 300-km radius, feeding mainly on euphausiids and fish.As the season progressed, the amount of euphausiids in the diet declined by 93% with the diet becoming almost totally composed of the myctophid fish Krefftichthys anderssoni.Penguins foraged mainly on the Heard Island shelf area (seas shallower than 1000 m).Penguin dive profiles were complex, unlike the simple '8' shaped dives recorded elsewhere.Diving was mainly between dawn and dusk to depths of 10-60 m, and the deepest dives were undertaken during daylight hours.The connection between the observed diving patterns and the diet was difficult to elucidate because K. anderssoni only migrates vertically into surface waters at night and is believed to be out of the penguins' diving range during the day.
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