For Stress-Free Penguins, Use a Rover

The first time a colony of Antarctic penguins sees a towering human striding toward them, it must be like First Contact. They've never seen a species our size on land before, or anything that moves like we do. Even after penguins have interacted with researchers, the approach of a human is a physiologically stressful experience. To avoid stressing out their subjects so much, some researchers are experimenting with remote-control rovers. They're hardly natural, but it turns out penguins don't mind a motorized, four-wheeled intruder nearly as much as they mind us. Stressing out penguins is bad for researchers, not just for birds. A panicked penguin can alter the data scientists are gathering, and may disturb its neighbors in the process. One way scientists are trying to bother animals less is by using tiny, under-the-skin transponders rather than the usual tags. These transponders are similar to the chip that a vet ...