Electronic Tracking of Penguins Proves Detrimental

Breaking news: Penguins don’t survive too well with metal bands on their flippers. Who knew?

Seriously, scientists? I find it amusing and slightly horrifying that this surprises anyone. A recent study showed that the harm caused by the metal straps put on penguins’ flippers in order to ID and track them have proven detrimental to their procreation and overall survival.

cYvon Le Maho, the ecologist who reported the findings stated, “There was no sign the birds adapted to the handicap caused by the bands, even after 10 years." Other ecologists suggested that the extra baggage caused by the bands impaired the athletic ability of the penguins and their overall ability to swim as quickly or keep up with the other penguins.

The bands essentially slow down the penguins who were less able to reproduce and care for their young with the handicap. The bands slowed down the birds so much that they would arrive to breeding grounds two weeks later than the rest of the penguins. Rory Wilson, an ecologist who was not on the penguin assignment told LiveScience, “Although at any one moment for any one day, the impediment is perhaps not that great, if you put on a band for the animal's life, then it's carrying that cost every hour of every day, and that could come to be quite a serious cost."

Bottom line: adding anything cumbersome to an animal’s body may handicap it to the point of inhibiting its reproduction capabilities. But, since the bands are inexpensive, scientists may still use them in the future. "The big question for scientists using flipper bands is how much and under what conditions is banding penguins justified. I would say that if anyone puts bands on, there has to be a bloody good reason for it," Wilson stated.

I think I like that guy.

Juliana Kenny graduated from the University of Connecticut with a double degree in English and French. After managing a small company for two years, she joined TMC (News - Alert) as a Web Editor for TMCnet. Juliana currently focuses on the call center and CRM industries, but she also writes about cloud telephony and network gear including softswitches.

Edited by Juliana Kenny