In the morning, you're on the school bus. But as soon as you turn a corner, you'll find yourself at the end of a very long queue(队), it's another traffic jam! Meanwhile, in Antarctica(南极洲), snow covers the land. A group of emperor penguins crowd together to keep warm using stop-and-go movements to protect themselves from the winds. Can you see the connection?
Emperor penguins move like cars in traffic jams to keep warm, according to a new research. A penguin only needs to move 2 cm in any direction for its neighbor to do the same thing. These movements then flow(涌动)through the whole group of penguins like a "traveling wave(波浪) ".
These waves also help the smaller crowds join bigger groups, keeping more and more of their friends warm. A single Antarctica "traffic jam" has thousands of penguins. Interestingly, the technology once used for studying road traffic jams was used to study the penguins. It included studying time-lapse(延时)videos. Scientists also discovered that's unlike on the road, these waves can be made by any penguin and in any direction.
With temperatures usually dropping 50 degrees below zero and winds reaching speeds of up to 200 km/h, these traveling waves are very important for penguins to keep warm.
These penguins can also teach us a lesson. In a big group, they learn to be orderly and patient, and never to crash into each other. These are skills that we should all learn from them when we are on the road!