Reinforced Plastics
Reinforced Plastics
复制标题
强化塑料
作者:
C. Gurney
removed as soon as laid, a third one is sometimes produced. Adelies are single-brooded. The average incubation period (from the day of laying until the chick is completely out) is thirty-five days with a range of thirty-three to thirty-eight days. The care of the young is divided into three stages: the guard stage when one of the parents is at the nest to care for and feed the chicks while the other is away collecting food; the creche stage, when the chick is left alone at an age of about 4 weeks and groups with others to form creches of 100 or more chicks, and, later, the dispersal of the creches. Evidence is given from a study of marked adults and chicks that parents feed their own chicks in the creche, feeding others only in exceptional circumstances. There are no adult'guardians' of the creches. These two facts are contrary to previous accounts of penguins the chicks of which group together in creches.The Adelie's habit of'keeping company'(that is, the partnership of two birds of opposite sex at a nest-site which may, or may not, lead to the establishment of a mated pair) is believed to have survival value in facilitating the formation of new pair-bonds should the original mate of an experienced breeder fail to return, or return very late. Most Adelies moult away from the rookeries among the pack ice. The yearlings moult first. Little is known about the winter movements of the Adelie, but tho birds appear to stay in the pack ice and visit land in winter only when gales break up the fast ice and bring the pack close to land.