Penguins on a treadmill - the latest (and most bizarre) way to save the planet
Scientists put monitors on birds in expirement to chart global warming
Last updated at 21:17pm on 7th April 2007
They may look absolutely bizarre ... but these king penguins struggling on a treadmill could help to save the planet.
Scientists from Birmingham University have fitted 50 of the birds with special heart-rate monitors in an experiment designed to measure global warming.
They will record how much energy the birds are using in order to feed themselves. If the data shows they are making longer trips further into the oceans to find fish, it may prove waters are warming up and climate change is taking place.
Dr Lewis Halsey, of the university's School of Biosciences, said: "We are fairly confident that there have been changes in the southern oceans where these penguins live. We expect they will also have to change what they are doing when they go into the sea to feed.
"The lantern fish the penguins eat are going to be moving further south into colder waters as the southern oceans increase in temperature due to global warming.
"The penguins are going to have to go further afield - and burn more calories - to find them.
"We use the heart-rate monitors to find out how hard the penguins are working. Over time they will be working harder to find the fish."
The 'guinea pig' penguins live on the Crozet Islands, in the southern Indian Ocean, about 1,500 miles north of the Antarctic.
The monitors record each penguin's heart rate, location, the surrounding pressure and hence water depth, and the temperature at the back of its throat, telling the scientists when it has swallowed a cold fish.
The birds, famously awkward and ungainly on land, are released back into the wild to go on their usual diving expeditions and caught again a few months later when they return to land to breed.
The data from all their fishing trips can then be downloaded to a computer for study, and the penguins return to the colony.
The problem for the scientists was working out the relationship between the penguins' heart rates and how much energy they were expending.
To do this, ten penguins were placed on treadmills so their heart rates could be measured at the same time as breathing rate - calculated by putting the treadmill in a sealed, clear plastic box and monitoring how much oxygen they used.
The treadmill was speeded up and slowed down to find out how the penguin's heart rates changed at different levels of activity.
Then their height, weight and flipper length were compared to the heart rate and energy use.
This can be compared with birds living in the wild to see how much energy they use.
King penguins are the second largest penguins after the emperor species. They are about 3ft tall and can dive to 700ft, staying under water for up to 15 minutes.