Quick Dips

On The Penguin Trail

Adelie penguins in Antarctica are the focus of attention for Otago University zoologists this summer. Shirley McQueen and Beth Speirs are spending three months studying the relationship between hormone levels and the amount of time penguins spend away from their nests.

McQueen believes that penguins may have an internal hormonal timer regulating the time spent away from the incubating eggs. The pair plan to investigate a possible link through blood-testing penguins departing on, or returning from, foraging trips.

The cold conditions make it difficult to take blood samples, requiring the penguins to be bundled up with hot water bottles to get the blood flowing. Plasma from the samples will be frozen in liquid nitrogen at -120^o C and shipped back to New Zealand for analysis. Some penguins will be given progesterone hormone implants to see if this makes them return to their nest earlier.

The timing of foraging trips is vital to penguin survival. If a penguin spends too long away from its nest, the eggs will be deserted by its fasting partner, or the chicks will starve.

Yvonne Martin, Scott Base