Study: Tracking bands may harm penguins

WASHINGTON - Some scientists studying penguins may be inadvertently harming them with the metal bands they use to keep track of the tuxedo-clad seabirds, a new study says.

The survival rate of King penguins with metal bands on their flippers was 44 percent lower than for those without bands and banded birds produced far fewer chicks, according to new research published yesterday in the journal Nature.

The theory is that the metal bands - either aluminum or stainless steel - increase drag on the penguins when they swim, making them work harder, the study's authors said.

Author Yvon Le Maho, of the University of Strasbourg in France, said the banded penguins looked haggard, appearing older than their actual age.

Thus, studies that use banded penguins, including studies about the effects of global warming on the seabirds, may be inaccurate, mixing up other changes in penguin life with the effects from banding, said Le Maho and colleague Claire Saraux.

"There is an ethical question: should we continue" with banding? Le Maho asked. The very act of studying the birds is harming them, he said.

The researchers followed 50 already banded adult penguins and 50 without bands for 10 years, tracking them with under-the-skin transponders. Thirty-six percent of the non-banded seabirds survived for 10 years, compared with only 20 percent of the band-wearing birds.

The no-band penguins had 80 chicks, while the banded seabirds produced 47 chicks, a 41 percent drop.

The penguins were studied on a French island in the Indian Ocean between Africa and Antarctica.

Penguin researchers have long debated the use of bands. The bands weigh just under an ounce and are a bit more than an inch wide, Saraux said.