New penguins homes on the right side of road

NEW ZEALAND - Why didn't the little penguin cross the road? Because she had a nesting box by the sea.

On 22 May, about 25 volunteers helped to place 50 wooden nesting boxes near the tip of the breakwater near Port Tarakohe in Golden Bay as part of a community project led by the Department of Conservation (DOC).

DOC representative Greg Napp told the Motueka Golden Bay News that it was hoped the nesting boxes would encourage the birds to nest on the seaward side of the road, rather than in the Tarakohe cliffs on the other side. Every year penguins are killed by cars as they make their way to and from their nests.

The nesting boxes were buried in soil, and native plants will be added to create a more natural look and make the small entrances less visible. The size of the entrances will also protect the penguins from dogs and cats.

Mr Napp told the Motueak Golden Bay News that at least three penguin pairs have moved into the nesting boxes that were placed in the area two years ago.

Although it has long been a penguin habitat, the number of penguins in the coastal area from Pohara to Ligar Bay has declined over the years. If enough little penguins decide to nest in the harbour, it could become a drawcard for tourists like Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony is for Oamaru.

Source
A nest of protection by Hayley Gale, 26 May 2011, Motueka Golden Bay News

Penguins need protection from campers, DOC says

NEW ZEALAND - The Department of Conservation (DOC) has told Waitaki District Council that penguins on the North Otago coastline should be protected from freedom campers.

Freedom camping is camping in places other than at a licensed camping ground or other approved and designated camping area. The Council prepared a draft Environmental Nuisance and Freedom Camping Control bylaw for consultation in response to growing local and national concern about the impact of freedom camping on the environment and community.

In her submission to the draft bylaw, DOC solicitor Pene Williams listed five areas where penguins, mostly yellow-eyed, had breeding colonies: Bushy Beach, Shag Point, Katiki Beach, Moeraki Peninsula and Tavora Beach. Within these areas there are public places, such as carparks, where DOC's director-general would prefer not to see freedom camping permitted.

"Research has indicated that penguin nesting success is significantly decreased if birds are disturbed by people," she said.

"There is also a concern that people will have dogs with them who could also disturb these vulnerable birds."

The Council received 19 submissions on the draft but will hold off adopting the bylaw until the Government's Freedom Camping Bill - introduced to Parliament in May - has been passed. The new law will let councils and DOC determine where camping is allowed, where it is restricted to vehicles with self-containment, and where it is prohibited.

Sources
Campers risky for penguin colonies, 25 May 2011, The Timaru Herald
Freedom camping bylaw delayed by Alex Fensome, 25 May 2011, The Oamaru Mail
New freedom camping laws announced, 15 May 2011, Office of the Acting Conservation Minister
Draft Environmental Nuisance and Freedom Camping Control Bylaw 2011, Waitaki District Council (accessed 1 June 2011)

Ancient penguin DNA sheds light on evolutionary change

Adelie penguin at Palmer Station.
Photo credit: Johnny Shaw.
Some rights reserved.

AUSTRALIA - By recovering DNA sequences from ancient sub-fossil bones of Adelie penguins and comparing them to DNA from today's penguins, scientists are building a picture of evolutionary change that is much faster than previously estimated.

The research, undertaken by Griffith University scientists in Antarctica and at the university's campus in Brisbane, Queensland, featured on the 26 May episode of the ABC programme Catalyst.

In the episode, Catalyst presenter Dr Paul Willis collected specimens from recently dead Adelie penguins (their feet) in the Antarctic Peninsula and took them back to the university. There, DNA from the feet was compared to ancient DNA sequences of varying ages up to 44,000 years old.

"The ancient bones underlie existing and abandoned breeding colonies from around the Antarctic continent and are one of the richest sources of ancient DNA yet discovered," lead researcher Professor David Lambert told Griffith University News.

"In comparing these sequences we are able to build up a picture of the speed of DNA change over time."

In the program, Professor Lambert said, "Results from Adelie penguin studies haven't confirmed a number of previous studies ... those rates have been very high, much higher than previous estimates."

The Griffith team will be applying the DNA comparison technique to other animals to see if they also have higher rates of DNA change.

Professor Lambert said that these molecular rates are very important for use within a range of science disciplines ranging from forensics to evolutionary biology.

Sources
Griffith research with penguin advances understanding of DNA by Louise Durack, 24 May 2011, Griffith University News
Catalyst: Penguin DNA, 26 May 2011, ABC

High mortality rate for Tristan's rescued rockhoppers

Rockhopper penguins in the release
pool on Tristan da Cunha.
Photo by Katrine Herian/RSPB

TRISTAN DA CUNHA - Sadly, despite the valient efforts of the penguin rescuers, the overall mortality rate for the rockhopper penguins oiled by the wreck of the MS Oliva has been extremely high - the figure given by RSPB is around 88% for those birds that were moved to Tristan.

RSPB acknowledged this is a much higher mortality than in other oiling incidents, but hopes that lessons can be learned that will improve this figure should something similar occur. The extreme remoteness of the Tristan islands and the necessary delay (at least 6 days sail from Cape Town) in getting vital supplies and staff to the islands probably contributed to the low survival, as birds would have been consuming toxic oil from their feathers for more than a week before rescue was undertaken. 

The penguin rehabilitation project team continue to work relentlessly in all weathers, in an effort to secure the successful release of clean, healthy, waterproof birds. Around 25 Tristanians are still working full time with the penguins, and the entire community remains dedicated to seeing the remaining birds head out to sea as soon as possible.

On 21 May, a trial release took place, with the fittest 25 penguins released from the pen. Eleven of these birds returned to the release pen (one of them straight away), but all of these were found to be in good health and showed no signs of stress or weakness. With the relative success of the trial (there were no known fatalities) the rehabilitation team are now working on a plan to release a further 110 birds that are ready to go.

As at 23 May, there were around 380 penguins remaining in the rehabilitation centre on Tristan. These birds have gained weight well, but they will not be released until their feathers are in excellent condition, as sending them into a cold south Atlantic without their waterproofing intact would be disastrous.

All remaining wild penguins have now departed from the islands, and headed off to their winter feeding grounds. The true impact of this calamity on the population won't be known until the birds return to breed on the islands in August and September.

RSPB’s Brad Robson will travel to Tristan in September to assist the Conservation Department with their annual rockhopper census. Hopefully, some of the measures taken by the Tristan team, such as corralling penguins on land to prevent their exposure to oil, will have saved the lives of numerous birds.

The wreck of the MS Oliva remains in the water near Nightingale, and some oil is still leaking from the vessel. It is likely that winter storms will break the wreck up, and will disperse this oil, but the situation will be monitored for possible impact on returning birds.

So far, the insurers of the MS Oliva have paid for all the rehabilitation and clean-up efforts, and hopefully they will continue to act responsibly in the coming months and years.

There will, however, undoubtedly be some work that cannot be funded through insurance. One area where funds raised through the RSPB Nightingale Island Emergency Appeal can contribute will be ensuring that the people of Tristan da Cunha have sufficient resources on hand locally to deal with any future oiling incident rapidly and without awaiting supplies from Cape Town. The community now has significant expertise in penguin rehabilitation, and hopefully this can be shared with other South Atlantic islands (e.g. the Falklands and the French territories) to enable them to also mount rapid responses if an incident like this one occurs in the future.

Read related posts

Sources
Gaining weight, but not yet waterproof: penguins still need care, RSPB, 12 May 2011, BirdLife International
MS Oliva Tristan-based diary, Tristan da Cunha Association: accessed 1 June 2011

There was a young penguin who needed a shoe

Lucky's Teva shoe prevents sores from
developing on his feet. Photo by
Sheri Horiszny.

USA - Lucky the Humboldt penguin might have an impaired foot, but he can now walk, hop and swim like any other penguin, thanks to a customised shoe made for him by adventure-footwear company Teva.

When Lucky hatched at Santa Barbara Zoo on 15 April last year, he was examined by the zoo’s veterinarian and appeared normal and healthy. But as he grew and began to walk, the chick started to limp. Lucky was examined and x-rayed and it was found that while nothing was broken, the bones in his leg were not developing normally. The Zoo tried different treatments, including splints, but nothing corrected his leg.

The idea for the shoe came when Lucky was two months old. He had developed sores from putting pressure on the wrong parts of his foot while he hopped, so Zoo veterinarians and keepers treated the sores and began wrapping the penguin’s foot and padding the heel.

"We remembered that years ago, Teva had fashioned a special shoe for an elephant with foot issues in San Antonio," said Zoo CEO Rich Block. "Teva's headquarters is located just a few miles from our zoo and we thought, if they can make a big elephant boot, they may be able to make a little penguin one."

Teva’s design team responded immediately and volunteered hundreds of hours to design and make the shoe. Being a penguin, Lucky has several particular needs. Not only does the shoe have to cushion his foot, it has to be lightweight, provide traction, easily shed water, and above all, comfortable. There were several versions of the shoe, each one improving on the previous version with different materials, waterproof fabrics and designs.

Very generously, Teva has committed to providing shoes for Lucky for the rest of his life.  The shoes are changed daily so they can be washed.

Teva president Pete Worley said Teva were "honoured to be part of this story".

"Our product team is experienced at collaborating with athletes, and while Lucky’s challenge was certainly unique to us, his needs were not dissimilar to those of any world-class kayaker or trail runner."

"We went through a bit more trial and error due to the language barrier, but Lucky knew what he was looking for in performance footwear, and he let us know when we had it right. In Lucky, we found a new friend and the perfect Teva athlete."

UK children's book author and illustrator Sarah Aspinall is writing a book about Lucky, due to be published later in the year. Proceeds of the book sale will be used to support Lucky.



Sources

Teva collaborates with Santa Barbara Zoo to design life-saving shoe for “Lucky” the penguin, 17 May 2011, Teva
A special shoe for a "lucky" penguin, 17 May 2011, Santa Barbara Zoo

Little penguins cover big distances

NEW ZEALAND - Recent research shows that the little penguins from Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony are quite well travelled.

Biologist Philippa Agnew started a three-year research project at the Colony last year to investigate what the world's smallest penguins get up to when they go foraging for food.

While the team are still analysing the data from this year's research, Colony manager Jason Gaskill told The Timaru Herald, "The breadth of the trips has been interesting to observe. Some of the trips have been longer than we expected, and to areas we did not expect."

Some highlights from the data include: the longest trip exceeded 100km over four to five days; the longest single-day trip was over 70km; and the average single-day trip was within a radius of 40km.

Meanwhile another set of figures, the ones for the Colony's 2010/11 breeding season, have given cause for celebration. There were 160 breeding pairs, 504 eggs, 406 chicks hatched and 365 chicks fledged.

"These indicate the highest numbers we have ever recorded at the Quarry colony," Mr Gaskill told The Timaru Herald, "and indicate a very successful breeding season."

Source
Little blues travel widely by Rosa Studholme, 14 May 2011, The Timaru Herald

New penguin research answers deep question: how do they dive for so long?

Emperor penguins in Antarctica.
Photo by StormPetrel1.
Some rights reserved.

ANTARCTICA - Emperor penguins are well known for their diving ability; they can dive underwater for up to 20 minutes on a single breath. But how do they do it? New research, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology on 12 May, indicates that they can achieve their amazing long dives because they have control over how and when their muscles use oxygen.

But first of all, how do you measure oxygen levels in a penguin's muscles? It was no easy task - one of the study's authors, Cassondra Williams from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, had to design a special probe which could be surgically implanted in a penguin's pectoralis muscle. After two years of technical testing and development, the probes were ready for use on wild birds, so Williams and fellow researchers Paul Ponganis and Jessica Meir headed to McMurdo Sound in Antarctica.

In Antarctica, the researchers implanted probes in selected emperor penguins and attached time-depth recorders to their backs to track their dive profiles. The penguins were then released to forage for a day or two through an isolated hole that the researchers had drilled in the sea ice, which ensured the penguins (and the expensive equipment) would return.

Once the probes and time-depths recorders were retrieved, and the penguins had been returned to their colony, the scientists began to analyse the data from the 50 successfully recorded dives from three penguins. Looking at the patterns of oxygen use over the course of each dive, two distinct patterns emerged.

In the first type of dive, the muscle's oxygen levels fell continually until they approached zero - the penguin appeared to cut off blood flow to the muscle, so it had to rely on its own oxygen supplies, leaving the blood oxygen for the rest of the body, such as the brain and heart.

Williams calculated that the mean muscle oxygen consumption rate for these types of dives was only 12.4ml of oxygen per kilogram of muscle per minute - 1/10th the value calculated for penguins swimming in an artificial flume.

"I think this metabolic rate is impressive. You can see how hard they are working underwater but they are efficient swimmers and very hydrodynamic," she said.

In the second type of dive, the muscle's oxygen levels initially fell and then plateaued for several minutes before falling again to almost zero. The researchers realised that the blood must flow back into the muscles to replenish the oxygen supply during the middle phase of the dive. While this stops the muscles from getting tired, the penguins can only do this until the blood oxygen levels become too low for the rest of the body.

In both types of dive, when the oxygen levels in the muscles approach zero, the muscles start to make energy using anaerobic respiration - that is, without oxygen. Unfortunately, a byproduct of this type of respiration is the production of lactic acid. Researchers believe that if the penguins let the lactic acid accumulate in their muscles, it takes them longer to recover after a long dive. This might be why on some dives, the penguins send extra oxygen to their muscles.

Williams told LiveScience, "They don't want to hit their aerobic limit and accumulate lactic acid, but it's not clear how or why they do that."

Sources
Penguins continue diving long after muscles run out of oxygen, 12 May 2011, Journal of Experimental Biology
Penguins' oxygen trick: How they survive deep dives by Jennifer Welsh, 12 May 2011, LiveScience

Journal of Experimental Biology citation
Williams, C. L., Meir, J. U. and Ponganis, P. J. (2011). What triggers the aerobic dive limit? Patterns of muscle oxygen depletion during dives of emperor penguins. J. Exp. Biol. 214, 1802-1812.