Robot Chick Makes Friends With Emperor Penguins

A remote-controlled vehicle disguised as an emperor penguin chick has been used to stealthily observe a group of the birds in Antarctica.

The emperor penguins were so impressed by the furry toy on wheels that they "were even heard vocalising at the camouflaged rover" and it was "able to infiltrate a penguin creche without disturbance", scientists reported in the journal Nature Methods.

The benefits of the rover include less stressed animals - emperor penguins are notoriously shy and quickly panic if approached by humans.

It makes it difficult to get accurate measurements of penguins' health and stress levels, so the international scientists, led by Yvon Le Maho of the University of Strasbourg in France, created the robot chick.

An initial attempt with a fibreglass rover scared the birds, and five more versions were developed before the penguins were completely happy.

The little robot, which is still being refined, has grey feathers, black wings, a black and white face and black beak.

Ms Le Maho said the penguins were so taken with the device that they sang to it with a "very special song like a trumpet", apparently trying to find a mate for their chicks.

"They were very disappointed when there was no answer. Next time we will have a rover playing songs," she said.

A similar rover is being used on king penguins on Possession Island in Australia.

The long-term plan is to use autonomous robots to spy on the penguins by programming them to read signals from radio tags attached to them.

-skynews