African penguins put researchers in a flap

Automated Visual Recognition of Individual African Penguins

African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) carry a pattern of black spots on their chests that does not change from season to season during their adult life. Further, as far as we can tell, no two penguins have exactly the same pattern. We have developed a real-time system that can confidently locate African penguins whose chests are visible within video sequences or still images. An extraction of ...

African Black-Footed Penguins Avian Malaria

Ten captive-reared African black-footed penguins (Spheniscus demersus) from a large outdoor colony were monitored for avian malaria, using severa l diagnostic tests. One treatment regimen was evaluated. Thin smear blood eva luation enabled detection of seven parasitemias involving Plasmodium relictum a nd Plasmodium elongatum in the penguins. Leukocytosis (relative lymphocytosis) was characteri...

Two Distinct mtDNA Lineages among Captive African Penguins in Japan

The African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is one of the world's most endangered seabirds. In Japan, although the number of African penguins in captivity continues to increase, genetic data have not been collected for either wild or captive populations. To reveal genetic diversity and characterization in captive African penguins, we analyzed the nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) ...

African penguins follow the gaze direction of conspecifics

Gaze following is widespread among animals. However, the corresponding ultimate functions may vary substantially. Thus, it is important to study previously understudied (or less studied) species to develop a better understanding of the ecological contexts that foster certain cognitive traits. Penguins (Family Spheniscidae), despite their wide interspecies ecological variation, have previously n...

Penguins 2002 : Penguins in K !