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HomeNewsPublications
  • November 24th 2023

    From Cacophony to Symphony: The Harmonious Interplay of Animal Cognition and Communication with Dr. Tecumseh Fitch

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  • November 5th 2023
    Laura Buck with a Schematic of her research being done at Kyoto University

    Unraveling the Secrets of Cold Adaptation and Hybridization in Primates with Evolutionary Anthropologist Dr. Laura Buck

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  • October 25th 2023
    urban macaques on motorbike (left) and primatologist Paula Pebsworth (right)

    Exploring Human-Primate Coexistence with Dr. Paula Pebsworth: A Journey from the Vineyards of Napa Valley to the Wilds of Africa, Asia and Beyond

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  • September 27th 2023

    Change: Primate Populations in an Anthropogenic World with Primatologist and Conservation Biologist Dr. Colin Chapman

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  • September 27th 2023

    Understanding the Ins and Outs of Tool Use in Capuchin Monkeys with Professor Patricia Izar

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  • August 8th 2023
    Reggie and undergraduate students at Arashiyama, Kyoto, Japan

    Exploring Comparative Primate Cognition with Dr. Reggie Gazes and Dr. Ikuma Adachi

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  • July 20th 2023

    From Gorillas to Elephants: Dr. Ian Redmond on Wildlife Conservation in Africa

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  • July 19th 2023

    The PrimateCast 83: Journey into the Wild with The Orangutan Conservation Project's Leif Cocks

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  • July 19th 2023

    The PrimateCast Origins (82): Tarzan meets Darwin in conservation and evolution with conservationist and evolutionary biologist Dr. Fred Bercovitch

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  • June 9th 2023

    The PrimateCast 81: Born Free USA's Devan Schowe on animal advocacy, ethics, welfare and conservation in the USA

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  • April 21st 2023

    The PrimateCast Origins (80): Walking with gorillas and Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Uganda's first wildlife veterinarian

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  • March 29th 2023

    The PrimateCast 79: Dr. Tesla Monson on what teeth can tell us about the life histories and behavior of extinct species (and cool science communication!)

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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, Kyoto University (Inuyama Campus), 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan
Phone: +81 (0)568-63-0284
Fax: +81 (0)568-61-1050
Email: cicasp [at] mail2 [dot] adm [dot] kyoto-u [dot] ac [dot] jp

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