Penguins that face the bitter cold and icy winds of Antarctica often huddle together in large groups for warmth during storms. Mathematicians at the University of California, Merced created a model of penguin huddles that assumes each penguin aims solely to minimize its own heat loss. Surprisingly, the model reveals that such self-centered behavior results in an equitable sharing of heat. The results are published in the online journal PLOS ONE and the researchers will discuss their findings at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society's (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD), held Nov. 18 – 20 in San Diego, Calif. Penguins aren't a typical study subject for Francois Blanchette, an applied mathematician at UC Merced who focuses on fluid dynamics. However, after seeing penguin huddles in the movie "The March of the Penguins" Blanchette realized that the important factors that shaped the huddle, including wind and heat flow, fell within his area of expertise.
