Do you look at appearance details to help you identify who someone is? Some animals
can also use this strategy to identify individuals. Animal Behavior, Baciadonna et al. studied
African penguins to figure out if they use dot patterns on their partner’s stomach to identify who
they are.
In this study, the scientist set up a test to observe if the dot patterns on a penguin’s
stomach contributed to identify who an individual was. To perform this test, they used 12
penguins who were partners. Partners were used since it was predicted that a penguin would look
longer and be closer to their recognizable partner rather than a non partner. The scientists took
pictures of each penguin and printed them onto white cardboard so that the backgrounds would
be completely white. Additionally, the scientists made the pictures the same size as a real African
penguin.
The researchers placed the penguin being tested in front of two pictures of their partner
that were set up side by side. One picture was a normal photo of their partner and the other was
their partner without the dot pattern on their stomach. Two cameras were used to record the
interaction between the penguin and the photos for 90 seconds. Then, data was collected on how
long the penguin looked at each photo and the time the penguin spent near each photo.
The results from the study showed that penguins looked at their partner’s picture longer
when they had their dot pattern. Along with this, the data showed that the time spent near each
photo wasn’t predicted by the partner having their stomach dot pattern. This data concluded dot
patterns on a penguin’s stomach can be used as a sign to recognize one’s partner.
Baciadonna, L., Solvi, C., Terranova, F., Godi, C., Pilenga, C., & Favaro, L. (2024). African
penguins utilize their ventral dot patterns for individual recognition. Animal Behaviour, 207,
13–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.10.005
