Tagging Adorable, Nasty Little Penguins | Best Job Ever
One of the most consistent comments that I get is how adorable chinstrap penguins are. But every time you get near them, the very first thing that they do is projectile poop. They're cantankerous; they tend to be very aggressive and just eat the food out of each other for seemingly no reason.
Right now, we're putting radio tags on the penguins to track when the penguins go out to find food and when they come back. So, if it's taking them a very long time, it means that conditions out there are not very good. That type of information can help set commercial fishing limits and keep the ecosystem healthy for all of these animals.
Once we're finished, we'll take them back to their colony, and they'll be released and totally free to go back to beating their neighbors or pooping out things. But as much as I complain about them, any day that I am out working with penguins is a really, really wonderful day to be able to make sure that they're all healthy.
First, seal pups are tiny, but they are ferocious in their own right.