It’s Penguin Awareness Day!

More than 25 zoos and aquariums across North America collaborate with LSU on “eggs-traordinary” new penguin study

 

From the New Orleans’ Audubon Aquarium of the Americas to the Central Park Zoo, more than 25 zoos and aquariums are part of a first-of-its-kind study on penguins organized at LSU.

Twenty-seven zoos and aquariums from across North America are sending penguin eggshells and water samples to LSU. An LSU professor and his students will analyze these samples to measure their unique chemical signatures at LSU’s Stable Isotope Ecology Lab.

“Eggshells are like time capsules. By understanding the link between what a penguin drinks and the eggshells they make, this study will help us unlock the potential to use eggshells to track changes in water and climate over time,” said LSU Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences Associate Professor Michael Polito.

This project takes advantage of the fact that rain and tap water oxygen isotope signatures vary dramatically, but predictably, across North America. This provides a natural experiment that will allow LSU researchers to identify the relationship between eggshells, water and climate.

Polito is no stranger to penguins. He has been conducting field work in Antarctica over the past two decades. During that time, he has excavated penguin colonies and collected hundreds of eggshells that are up to 8,000 years old. These ancient eggshells contain hidden information in their chemistry about past climates that, with the right knowledge, could be revealed.  

“With samples from seven different species of penguins living at zoos and aquariums across North America, we can create a unique tool that can then be used to decipher the climate conditions penguins in the wild experience now and in the past,” he said.

Polito hopes that this new study will help researchers to better understand how penguins have and will respond to environmental change.

“This ‘egg-citing’ research would truly not be possible without the dedicated zoo and aquarium staff who actively support research and conservation efforts for penguins and other wildlife around the world,” Polito said.

Zoo and Aquarium Collaborators:

1. Adventure Aquarium, New Jersey
2. Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, New Orleans
3. Bronx Zoo, New York
4. Steinhart Aquarium, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco
5. Central Park Zoo, New York
6. Marine Life, West Edmonton Mall, Canada
7. Fort Wayne Children's Zoo, Indiana
8. Fort Worth Zoo, Texas
9. Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta
10. Greensboro Science Center, North Carolina
11. Idaho Falls Zoo, Idaho
12. Declined to be listed
13. Little Rock Zoo, Arkansas
14. Memphis Zoo, Tennessee
15. Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden, Indiana
16. Mystic Aquarium, Connecticut
17. New York Aquarium, New York
18. NEW Zoo & Adventure Park, Wisconsin
19. Newport Aquarium, Kentucky
20. Point Defiance Zoo, Washington
21. Pueblo Zoo, Colorado
22. Declined to be listed
23. Santa Barbara Zoo, California
24. Seneca Park Zoo, New York
25. The National Aviary, Pennsylvania
26. Tulsa Zoo, Oklahoma
27. Turtle Back Zoo