Penguins tagged by scientists with metal bands 'die more quickly and have fewer chicks'
SOURCE:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1346693/Penguins-tagged-scientists-metal-bands-die-quickly-fewer-chicks.html
The survival rate of king penguins with metal bands on their flippers was 44% lower than those without bands and banded birds produced far fewer chicks, according to new research published in the journal Nature.
The French study, published in the journal Nature, theorise that the bands - made either aluminum or stainless steel - increase drag on the penguins when they swim, making them work harder.
Norman Ratcliffe of the British Antarctic Survey, which no longer uses bands, said it 'augments a growing body of evidence ' that bands harm the penguins and may bias the studies. Studies that use banded penguins - including ones about the effects of global warming on the seabirds - may be inaccurate, mixing up other changes in penguin life with the effects from banding.
One prominent American penguin researcher, P. Dee Boersma of the University of Washington, has been banding another kind of penguin for 28 years and will continue.
We ask that you stop using metal bands and use the alternative.
There is an alternative to the metal bands, Ratcliffe and the French researchers said.That option uses transponder tags that are injected under the penguin's skin and send radio signals to buried antennas, much like pets with radio chips embedded in them.
Wadsworth Endowed Chair in Conservation Science
Professor P. Dee Boersma
boersma@u.washington.edu
The Nature Conservancy in Washington
N 32.264768° W 110.948994°
1917 1st Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101 USA 206-343-4345
nature.org/washington
Penguins tagged by scientists with metal bands 'die more quickly and have fewer chicks'
SOURCE:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1346693/Penguins-tagged-scientists-metal-bands-die-quickly-fewer-chicks.html
The survival rate of king penguins with metal bands on their flippers was 44% lower than those without bands and banded birds produced far fewer chicks, according to new research published in the journal Nature.
The French study, published in the journal Nature, theorise that the bands - made either aluminum or stainless steel - increase drag on the penguins when they swim, making them work harder.
Norman Ratcliffe of the British Antarctic Survey, which no longer uses bands, said it 'augments a growing body of evidence ' that bands harm the penguins and may bias the studies. Studies that use banded penguins - including ones about the effects of global warming on the seabirds - may be inaccurate, mixing up other changes in penguin life with the effects from banding.
One prominent American penguin researcher, P. Dee Boersma of the University of Washington, has been banding another kind of penguin for 28 years and will continue.
We ask that you stop using metal bands and use the alternative.
There is an alternative to the metal bands, Ratcliffe and the French researchers said.That option uses transponder tags that are injected under the penguin's skin and send radio signals to buried antennas, much like pets with radio chips embedded in them.
