Hey Moksha!
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 5:33 pm
Q. What strategy do penguins use to avoid being attacked and devoured by a killer whale?
A. They "play a waiting game akin to killer-whale roulette," says Mark Buchanan in The Social Atom. By a form of social cooperation or learning, groups of penguins keep a careful watch on each other, taking note when another penguin ventures into the infested water to see how it fares. At first, only the hungriest penguin ventures in, until the coast is proven clear or to be avoided at all costs.
Yet at times no penguin gets that desperate, and so all hang back, waiting. In such cases, it has been known for some penguins to toss a sacrificial one into the drink "with a not-so-gentle nudge." The general social category here is "imitation"– or doing what others in the group have done safely or not doing what hasn't worked. This of course is a far-reaching favorite of humans as well.
