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Penguin Plane Spotters Intrigue
Scientists LONDON Thursday November 2 (Reuters) - Do penguins
fall over backwards when watching aircraft fly overhead? Two British scientists are traveling to South Georgia
in the south Atlantic to find answers to that question and others from a
study of the island's 400,000 King Penguins. Scientists have usually been skeptical about reports
of penguins falling over backwards to watch aircraft flying above them. But a senior officer on the British navy ship HMS
Endurance, which is taking the scientific team to South Georgia, said he
believed the reports. "The penguins always look up at the
helicopters and follow them all the way until they fall over
backwards," Stuart Matthews, the ship's operations officer, told
the Daily Telegraph. Dr Richard Stone of the British Antarctic Survey told
Reuters that scientists were concerned that low-flying aircraft could
cause stress among penguins and affect their breeding performance. "There may be an increase in heart rate as
helicopters fly over," Stone said. "The worst possible effect is that there would be
a reduction in their breeding performance. If they were incubating eggs
this could be quite devastating for them." Stone said helicopters from HMS Endurance would fly at
different altitudes over the penguins to help in the research.
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