IT ISN’T EXACTLY the same as killing with kindness, but efforts to help protect king penguin populations on Antarctica’s Possession Island are actually causing harm.
A 10-year study of penguins that had been tagged with “flipper bands” as a way to identify individuals indicates that flipper banding actually reduces their long-term survival and reduces their reproduction.
The research published this morning in Natureargues that there are ethical objections to the continued use of flipper-banding. It also says the predictive value of data acquired from banded penguins was to a degree discredited. The researchers studied 50 banded and 50 non-banded king penguins ( Aptenodytes patagonicus) over the 10-year study period. The banded birds produced 39 per cent fewer chicks and had a 16 per cent lower survival, compared with non-banded birds.
The study refutes claims that penguins are able to adapt to the bands. It also says that the banded and non-banded birds actually respond differently to climate, with banded birds arriving later on Possession Island to breed.
