Journal Entries

2005-06

 

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Click here to access journal entries by Giancarlo Lopez-Martinez or Luke Sandro.

 

January 16-17, 2006 — Palmer Station, Antarctica

It’s great to be alive and well and living in Antarctica! And to think this all became possible because I LOVE SCIENCE!...And so does everyone else here.

Tonight we had a presentation from some Canadian visitors. They are from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and are filming an Antarctic wildlife documentary here because Antarctica has some COOL & WILD SCIENCE! The sailboat they came in is huge and holds a film crew, staff of writers and technical support personnel, and a crew to run the ship (click here to find out more about what these visitors are up to). Every time I look at the sailboat (it’s right outside my bedroom window) I think of pirates. Hmmm...what do you think about when you look at it?

Pascale, one of the presenters, shared her research on geese with us. She has been studying how they keep their feet warm and hit upon a question that no one has asked yet and I am dying to tell you about. Big Science Question of the Day:Do penguins get cold feet?

Did you ever wonder why those flat, cute, little, webbed feet don’t freeze solid when they walk over ice all day in subzero temperatures? Each year my family has a tradition for the first big snowfall — we run out into the deep white fluffy snow with our bare feet, celebrating the advent of the winter season. When we are running around in the snow, our feet turn red and the feeling is one you don’t soon forget. Remembering how rejuvenating this invigorating experience is I can’t imagine how the birds feel! I had frostbite one time when I was skiing and my ski boots were too tight around the toe, limiting my toe’s blood circulation. I kept ignoring just how cold my toes were getting. When I came to get warm, my toes began to really hurt. I went into the ski resort’s medical clinic and they quickly treated me. See frostbite facts here.

Knowing how severe frostbite can be for humans, it’s amazing to think that birds can stand these low temperatures all the time. Pascale explained that she has found many connections between geese and penguins in the way they tolerate being in contact with freezing surfaces. There are several ways in which both birds avoid frozen foot-sicles — in other words, ways in which they avoid damage that can be caused by cold temperatures and the formation of ice.

This is so great — they develop antifreeze proteins that prevent ice crystals from expanding within the flesh of the bird’s feet! Picture it like this: Stick an un-inflated balloon into a coffee cup. The balloon is the ice crystal and the cup is the protein. Blow into the balloon to simulate the expanding ice crystal. The cup (antifreeze protein) will prevent the balloon from expanding beyond a certain point and stop the expansion of the ice. Remember that this is a microscopic balloon and cup. This process acts to prohibit excessive ice formation by limiting its growth.

Ever see a bird lift one foot up against its body, balancing on one foot and then the other? This is another way in which birds can warm their feet. When the bird holds its leg up, body heat is transferred to the cold foot by direct contact. Then the bird will put the warm foot down and lift the cold foot up — each foot gets its turn to be warm. Although many birds do this, penguins may not — their bellies cover their feet pretty well when they are standing. Sometimes birds can also be seen sitting on their feet, which gives heat to both feet at the same time.

Pascale speculated that both geese and penguins control blood flow to their feet in order to keep them warm. If you measured the temperature of a penguin’s right foot, you would see that the temperature cycles. It would be cold and then warm, cold and then warm, and so on. While one foot is cold, the other foot is warm. If you graphed the temperature of both feet, you would see the cycling of temperature as the feet take turns being warmed then cooled.

Click here to learn more about thermoregulation (temperature control) in birds.

Other animals have other adaptations that keep them warm. Seals can be seen lying right on ice and cold rocks to sleep! The seals don’t get too cold, however — they have a wonderfully protective layer of fat called blubber that acts as insulation from the cold.

I wonder how I can develop antifreeze proteins that just warm my feet, because I always have cold feet when I crawl into bed! Hmmmm......

 

- Kaput-on-Ice

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