Swimming Penguins Guide Autonomous Underwater Robots

[n2doc]

By Jane J. Lee April 5, 2011 | 12:14 pm | Categories: Animals


Autonomous robots that follow the routes of swimming penguins are collecting information that could help scientists understand why the birds’ populations are dropping rapidly.

The underwater robots, called gliders, are programmed to record ocean conditions as they follow the tracks of Adelie penguins swimming in the southern ocean surrounding Antarctica.

The penguins have been dying off in large numbers for decades, and scientists suspect that warming of the seawater could be to blame. Part of the problem may be disappearing sea ice, which grows algae that attracts the krill the birds prefer to eat.

“They’re probably starving to death,” said Bill Fraser, a penguin biologist and president of the Polar Oceans Research Group.

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http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/04/penguins-robot-surveys/