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HomeNewsPublications
  • April 12th 2020

    The PrimateCast #58: Talking EcoHealth and unexpected chimpanzees with Dr. Anne Laudisoit

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  • February 14th 2020

    The PrimateCast #57: Saving the golden lion tamarin with Dr. Valeria Romano

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  • September 19th 2017
    Dr. Chris Whittier of Gorilla Doctors

    The PrimateCast #56: Talking applied wildlife veterinary medicine at IPS 2016 with Dr. Chris Whittier

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  • August 31st 2017
    Fabian Leendertz at the German Symposium on Zoonoses Research in 2014

    The PrimateCast #55: Talking wildlife disease at IPS 2016 with Dr. Fabian Leendertz

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  • May 15th 2017
    The PrimateCast's Andrew MacIntosh and Dr. Charlie Nunn at IPS 2016 in Chicago

    The PrimateCast #54: Talking Comparative Evolution, Infectious Disease and ... Sleep with Dr. Charlie Nunn

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  • May 13th 2017

    The PrimateCast #53: Talking Primate Behavioral Ecology with Dr. Karen Strier

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  • February 2nd 2017

    The PrimateCast #52: Conservation Voices from South Africa – Canned lion hunting with Dr. Andrew Venter

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  • October 16th 2016
    Airi Yamawaki on The PrimateCast

    The PrimateCast #51: Conservation Voices from Tokyo – Talking Ivory with Airi Yamawaki

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  • October 10th 2016

    The PrimateCast #50: Houseboat Amazon with Dr. Laura Marsh

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  • October 6th 2016

    The PrimateCast #49: Conservation Voices from Hawaii - IUCN World Conservation Congress 2016

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  • October 4th 2016
    Mac and Cecile go full PrimateCast

    The PrimateCast #48: Voices from Chicago - a look back at IPS/ASP 2016

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  • August 30th 2016
    The PrimateCast Talking Cold-blooded Cognition and Conservation with Dr. Anna Wilkinson

    The PrimateCast #47: Talking Cold-blooded Cognition and Conservation with Dr. Anna Wilkinson

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Little penguin, lots of scales

May 24th 2013
Publications
Penguin Parade, Phillip Island

A new study published in Nature's Open Access journal Scientific Reports has shown that foraging sequences of the world's smallest penguin exhibit a complex fractal structure through time.

Complex dive patterns shed light on adaptive behaviour

In the study, an international team of researchers from Japan, France and Australia led by CICASP's own Dr. Andrew MacIntosh used a relatively novel analytical paradigm (temporal fractal analysis) to examine a high-resolution data set collected via bio-logging, i.e. using animal attached data recording devices, from Australia's only penguin, the little (a.k.a. fairy, blue) penguin (Eudyptula minor). This approach allowed the researchers to examine tens of thousands of data points in the foraging sequences of numerous individual birds - the most ever examined in studies of fractal time in any free-living animal. The observed fractal properties - the dive pattern geometry found at each time scale looks remarkably similar to that found at any other scale within a certain range of temporal windows - suggest the presence of some general organizing principle underlying temporal patterns of penguin behaviour. The ubiquity of fractal patterns and processes found in living organisms strongly suggests their adaptive nature, and from what we already know about the way animals move through their environments, fractal patterns may provide an optimal foraging solution. That means that if this dive sequence complexity is lost – think of the stereotypical repetitive and functionless swimming patterns displayed by penguins and seals confined to small tanks in some zoos and aquaria – it may be indication that little penguins are operating in a sub-optimal state. This may have major implications concerning the viability of individuals operating in a changing environment, to which fractal patterns are well-attuned. The application of fractal tools opens up opportunities for more subtle and sensitive investigations of species used as indicators for climate and environmental change, such as the penguins examined here.

This study was conducted by researchers at the Kyoto University Primate Research Institute in Japan, the Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien and the Universite de Strasbourg of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France, and Phillip Island Nature Parks in Australia.

News image courtesy of Phillip Island Nature Parks.

For more information, access the article here at Scientific Reports.

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CICASP, 41-2, Kanrin,
Inuyama, Aichi,
484-8506 Japan
Phone: +81 (0)568-63-0284
Fax: +81 (0)568-61-1050
Email: cicasp [at] ml [dot] pri [dot] kyoto-u [dot] ac [dot] jp

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