Perplexing lives of penguins

UW scientist studies survival skills

By ERNIE MASTROIANNI
of the Journal Sentinel staff

Last Updated: Jan. 14, 2001

Cape Bird, Antarctica - Christine Ribic is taking one last walk through the Adelie penguin colony at Cape Bird, looking at the quickly growing chicks, hatched only a month ago.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison wildlife ecologist has been watching the birds since birth, but today is her last at this remote corner of Ross Island, and it's clear she has mixed feelings.

"My interest is in how these little guys manage to make it, with the changes in the ice and temperatures," she says. "It's a fascinating place to work. You're not surrounded by people, you're surrounded by penguins."

Ribic's affection for the penguins is deep-seated, but also professional.

She is studying how Adelie colonies in this area interrelate. She's the co-principal investigator in a study with David Ainley, one of the leading authorities on Adelie penguins. Ainley works with H.T. Harvey & Associates, a private San Jose, Calif., ecology group.

The unit leader of the UW-affiliated Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, Ribic is just one of dozens of researchers and support workers with Wisconsin connections who flock to Antarctica during that continent's summer season.

There are four large penguin colonies in the Ross Island area of Antarctica, an island in the Ross Sea often attached to the mainland by ice. They are at Cape Bird, with an estimated 40,000 breeding pairs; Cape Crozier, with 140,000; Beaufort Island, with 40,000; and Cape Royds, with 3,500.

At any of these locations, the untrained eye would simply see thousands of penguins running around, popping into the icy water and approaching humans with little fear.

But Ribic sees individual families. She wants to know how far the parents will go to find food for their young.

One of Ribic's specialties is telemetry. She attaches radio transmitters near penguins' tails with black waterproof tape, then tracks the birds' movements from a hill overlooking the colony, using antennas to triangulate their positions.

Ribic says penguins have been observed ranging up to 12.4 miles for food, staying out for up to two days.

Penguins thrive on the tiny shrimp-like krill or silverfish. The Adelie swallow the krill or fish, then regurgitate the food into the open beak of the waiting chick. Tracking their foraging pattern may help answer a key question that experts have about Adelies.

"We're trying to understand why there are four separate colonies, when there does not seem to be a reason," she says. "When you look at Cape Crozier, it looks like there's room for more." Cape Crozier also has open water, which makes it easy for the penguins to get food; other colonies might have ice that makes foraging more difficult.

How to handle a penguin

"We lift them off their nests, and (they) can be controlled by holding them under your arm, like holding a football. Putting on a radio transmitter takes a few minutes."

After that contact, "We try to minimize handling," she says. "It's well-known that penguins handled once are very difficult to catch a second time. They remember you."

Although the radios help scientists find out where the penguins eat, there's only one way to find out what they eat.

"We make them throw up," she says. "It sounds unpleasant for the bird, but it is simpler and more humane than pumping their stomachs. No one liked that. It was stressful for the people and birds did not like it."

Ribic says scientists have to move slowly through the penguin colonies.

"You must walk slowly, to not upset the birds," she says. "Only someone with legitimate work to do goes into the colonies. We have more chance of getting injured by the birds than vice versa. Their flippers are very strong, and some birds will come over and attack your legs. You will get bruised from this. I was bitten by a penguin when returning chicks to a nest."

This is Ribic's fifth season in Antarctica. She came to UW-Madison's department of wildlife ecology from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lab in Corvallis, Ore.

"They got rid of the wildlife group there," she said, "and I could have stayed on as program manager for global climate change, or some other non-wildlife program, but this would have taken me away from wildlife and totally out of research. I wanted to stay in research and study wildlife."