Feature

Mapping African penguins

Penguins each have a unique set of spots on their chest. Photos by Peter Barham

Every human being has a unique fingerprint. Every African penguin has a unique pattern of black spots on its chest. With current advances in computer aided pattern recognition a group of South African and British based scientists working in collaboration with the global conservation organisation Earthlife look set to solve the problem of how to fingerprint an African penguin and place real-time data on penguin movements and population trends right at the fingertips of researchers and policy makers. And for the rest of us it opens up the possibility that, for those of us tired of the exploits of 'Reality TV' shows, that we could instead log on to a web site and find out what has happened to 'Big Flipper' our favourite penguin in the last 48 hours.

The Earthwatch research project titled South African Penguins is situated in Robben Island, South Africa. This island is a hotspot for seabird diversity, including threatened bank cormorants, African black oystercatchers, and 20,000 African penguins. It also lies in the middle of major shipping lanes, and the risk of oil spills to local seabirds has been well-demonstrated. The worst was in 2000, when 13,000 penguins were 'oiled' on Robben Island alone. Most of these were cleaned and released, but the future of this penguin population, reduced by 90 percent in the last century, is by no means assured. Earthwatch scientists, Drs. Les Underhill, Robert Crawford (Marine and Coastal Management), and Peter Barham (University of Bristol) monitor sea birds on the island to help reduce the impact of future oil spills.

Every South African penguin carries a unique pattern of black spots on its chest that does not change from season to season during its adult life. The South African Penguins project is working on the development of a real-time system that can confidently identify African penguins whose chests are visible in video sequence and extract the spot pattern. Out of pattern properties, a biometrical identifier is generated for each penguin. The system is currently being tested at Bristol Zoo in hopes of introducing a non-intrusive system suitable for deployment at penguin colonies and pathways.

Once testing at Bristol Zoo is completed, the group hopes to create a robust system, for use in the field. The field system will employ a sturdy camera that is designed for outdoor, continuous use. A solar power unit will provide power to the remote camera controlled via a radio link to a laptop up to 400 metres from the observation site - ensuring no human disturbance. A server will collect the data and compile a data base of the penguins on Robben Island.

This will help to avoid the use of invasive banding of individual penguins as traditional steel bands can interfere with feeding and breeding success. The new technology will also allow for a permanent eye in the field - with continual monitoring and identification of individual penguins, scientists will be able to look at activity, movements and over time, population trends (the ultimate objective of this project is to understand the impact of environmental change on penguin populations). Further development of this system will also allow for the expansion of this same technology to monitor other species where patterns are conserved throughout adult life.

Once the system is proven to work, regular updates of the movements of particular penguins (e.g. those recently released from rehabilitation centres, etc.) will be placed on the Internet so that the scientists can communicate some of the excitement of their research to the widest possible audience.

The Earthwatch South African Penguin project has now broadened to include the gathering of data on the long term productivity of African penguins (and other sea birds) on Robben Island and the comparison of population trends with the level of fish stocks, the climate and other environmental variables. Long term objectives are to understand the impact of environmental change on the sea bird population of Southern Africa and to inform the implementation of appropriate conservation action.

Earthwatch engages people worldwide in scientific field research and education to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment. Since 1971 the worldwide organisation has recruited over 65,000 volunteers in support of 2,800 field research projects in 118 countries. These volunteers have contributed over 10 million hours to essential field work.

More information:

Information provided by Sabrina Bhangoo of Earthwatch Institute

Earthwatch

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