Data loggers
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Tiny circuit boards with memory chips and efficient batteries can be attached to animals like seals and penguins whilst they forage at sea. These instruments are just a few centimetres long and can log data on
- dive depth
- water temperature
- light levels
- time.
Some can even be set up to record the animals'
- heart rate - to show how much energy it is using
- stomach temperature - to record when it eats a meal of cold fish or krill.
When we get these instruments back off the animals, we are able to
- record the shape and depth of thousands of dives
- determine approximately where the animals go - from water temperature and light levels (that tell us times of sunrise, sunset and day length).
The Adélie penguin monitoring program has successfully used miniaturised data loggers for research. New directions to be undertaken by the Applied Marine Mammal Ecology group include developing instruments to record when an animal is eating, and to have miniaturised cameras photograph the prey just before it is eaten.
