Black dots on African penguins’ white foreheads could help them stand out

A team of psychologists and animal behaviorists from the University of Turin, the University of Oulu and Zoomarine Italia, Torvaianica-Pomezia, found evidence indicating that the unique assortment of black dots that decorate the forehead, for most entirely white, African penguins could serve. as a way to allow the penguins to stand out.

In their article published in the journal Animal behaviorthe group describes a simple experiment they conducted with a colony of African penguins living in a marine park.

African penguins, as their name suggests, are a species of penguins that live on the coasts of southern Africa. They are known to be particularly sociable with each other, which has led scientists to study their behavior as a possible precursor to more advanced behaviors such as those seen in primates.

One such study, for example, found that they are capable of vocal accommodation, where members of a group learn to speak more like others of their species, with a different dialect, when exposed to it.

In this new study, researchers found evidence to suggest that the unique patterns of black dots on their otherwise white foreheads allow penguins to recognize each other.

As a general rule, penguins tend to look very similar, a rule that also applies to African penguins. So scientists wondered how they were distinguished. In this new effort, the research team learned that workers at Zoomarine Italia, a marine park in Italy, are able to tell which penguin is which by memorizing the arrangement of black dots on their fronts. Intrigued, the researchers wondered if this was also how penguins did things.

To find out, they set up a very simple experiment. This involved building a small enclosure with plywood walls, just high enough to prevent a penguin from seeing over it. They then placed cameras at each end of the enclosure and life-size photos of two penguins on a back wall. They then enticed a single penguin to enter the enclosure. One of the photos that had been hung was of the companion of the one who had been allowed entry.

The researchers recorded the penguin’s behavior as it looked back and forth between one image and then the other. Then they repeated the same exercise, but this time both photos were of the test penguin’s companion, but one of them had its dots digitally removed. The exercise was then repeated once more, this time with one photo of the partner and the other photo of another penguin that was not the partner, both without points.

After conducting the experiment with several penguins, the researchers studied the video. In doing so, they found that the test penguin stared more at its companion in the first exercise and at the image of its companion with the dots in the second. But during the third exercise, he looked at both images the same way, seemingly unable to tell which one was his partner.

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