Cool Hunting
visited Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, Calif., after learning
that the staff was using technology in an interesting way with with
their Magellanic penguins. As aviculturist Sara Mandel explains, she found the iPad app Game for Cats
worked extremely well with penguins during their enrichment sessions, a
routine to keep the penguins in peak physical condition. And being in
peak physical condition apparently makes them more prone to procreate.
"[Penguins] Newsom and Jeremy became obsessed with it," Mandel says of
the iPad. "And that was actually the year that [a nearby penguin] was
born, so I must have done something right because we got Anderson and
Heidi out of it."
The iPad screen looks a little worse for wear, but the app does seem
to be helping—and it's adorable to watch. Keep on pecking, little guys.
The Penguin Camera is located on Torgersen Island (64°46’S, 64°04’W), off the coast of Anvers Island and less than a mile from Palmer Station. Torgersen Island is home to a colony of Adélie penguins numbering approximately 2,500. This camera is seasonal and operates primarily from October to February, the Adélie breeding season. The camera is solar-powered and may sometimes experience brief outages due to inclement weather. School classrooms and other educational demonstrations will often take control of the camera, moving it to gain better views of the colony.
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