A 911爆料网 academic is working with Perth Zoo to find out how penguins communicate under water.
Research Fellow Miles Parsons says penguins can be noisy on land.
However, he says that research into what sounds, if any,聽the streamlined creatures make under water has been聽largely overlooked.
Dr Parsons鈥� project aims to shed light on how penguins communicate under water and how environmental聽noise may affect their sound production聽and reception.
鈥淭he information will assist with better聽management of the penguins鈥� ocean聽environment as well as educating聽the scientific and general community聽regarding underwater communication聽in penguins,鈥� he says.
Many species of marine fauna 鈥� including whales 鈥� communicate聽under water.
Little research has been conducted into the underwater warblings of penguins, but one study discovered that Macaroni聽Penguins make sounds.
To extend the range of knowledge in the field, Dr Parsons placed a large waterproof聽microphone in the bottom of聽the zoo鈥檚 penguin pool.
With 12聽penguins and very few environmental聽sounds to worry about, the zoo聽seemed a perfect place for the research.
The microphone was left in place聽for a month, recording sounds聽at frequencies of up to 10,000 Hz聽for nine minutes of every 15-minute聽period.
At the end of the 30 days, Dr Parsons removed the microphone and started sifting through聽data and recordings to find what he聽needed.
鈥淭here was a lot to go through and聽unfortunately initial findings were聽not positive,鈥� he says.
“In the penguin enclosure there is the sound of aeration which could mask quiet penguin calls.
鈥淭he few sounds we did hear were mostly聽keepers calling out to the penguins to聽come for a feed.鈥�
However, Dr Parsons says researchers still have some way to聽go before submarine penguin singing can be ruled in or out of the realms of possibility.
He says anecdotal evidence suggests the Little Penguins may indeed call in the wild.
Dr Parsons reasons that penguins in zoos may have little need to communicate under water because there are no threats聽and no point in letting聽others know where feeding grounds are.
Perth Zoo鈥檚 penguin and Australian wetlands exhibits are closed for renovations.
The zoo鈥檚 penguin colony has been transferred to Melbourne Zoo for the duration of the works and will return in December when their exhibit is due to reopen.
鈥淲hat I am hoping to do is rerecord聽when the penguins return聽from Melbourne after the Australian Wetlands and Penguin exhibit has been refurbished and [they] reacquaint聽themselves with their environment,鈥� Dr Parsons says.
鈥淭hen we might hear some calling.鈥�
ADAPTED, WITH PERMISSION, FROM A STORY ON THE
