Gentoo penguins are the speediest swimming birds in the world. Thanks to their slick wings, the birds can reach speeds of up to 22 mph while searching for food. Now, because of a new study published in Physics of Fluids, researchers understand the mechanism behind their exceptional swimming ability and found that it’s all in the angle of their wings.
By observing how penguins move and position their flippers underwater, researchers can use the findings to design aquatic vehicles without high experimental or computational costs.
