Penguin Huddle: Collective Thermoregulation (2D)

Colony & Climate

Group size 60

Ambient temperature -30°C

Wind speed 8 m/s

Huddle packing tightness 1.00×

Rotation-tendency strength 1.00×

Live Readouts

Avg core temp

37.0°C

Coldest bird

37.0°C

Avg exposed surface

Shuffle events

Click a dot to read its exposed-perimeter and heat-loss stats. Drag to pan, scroll to zoom.

How it works

This top-down view simplifies each penguin to a flat disc and its heat loss to a single exposed-perimeter fraction — the length of its circular edge not touching a neighbour's disc — rather than the fuller 3D capsule-occlusion geometry of the 3D version. It keeps the same real mechanism: perimeter fraction sets heat loss, cold birds shuffle toward the centre, warm centre birds cede space outward, and the wind vector adds extra loss on the side of the huddle facing into it, producing the same slow rotational wave with a cheaper 2D model.

Heat loss Q ∝ (exposed perimeter fraction) × (1 + windward boost) × (core temp − ambient).
Shuffling is driven purely by each disc's own accumulated cold deficit, not a scripted rotation.

Drag to pan · Scroll to zoom

Cold (exposed) Warm (sheltered)