These gentoo nests are spaced out in a
way that nearly all penguin nests are spaced out, at just over two
"attack lengths" apart. If a penguin sitting on its nest can get
a peck at a nearby or passing penguin, then it will usually do so. The
resulting spacing is that penguins sitting on adjacent nests are just that
bit too far away to reach each other, so neither feels immediately
threatened and peace ensues. It reminds me of House of Commons in the
English Parliament where the government and opposition benches are
situated just over two sword lengths apart, should the honourable
gentlemen have decided to circumvent the electorate in the days when that
sort of thing went on.
The down
side of this arrangement is that when a penguin wants to leave the nest to
go fishing, or if it's coming back from fishing, it becomes in range of
both beaks from the adjacent nests when walking through the colony. So for
the time from arrival at the colony in the spring to when the chicks have
grown up a bit and hang around off the nest in "crèches",
coming and going can be quite painful for these hardy birds.
Photo; © Paul Ward - Pentax equipment,
100mm
lens, 35mm film, K64.
This picture may not be copied or used in any manner without
prior written permission.
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