Background: This semester, I started “Penguin Data Club” for University of Cincinnati undergrads who are interested in learning how to analyze and work with data, how to code in R, and to learn about the social lives of penguins. We are collaborating with Dr. Katie Kalafut and the Cincinnati Zoo on this project.
[If you are a UC undergrad interested in this kind of research experience, you can let me know by adding your information to this form]
This week in Penguin Data Club, we had a nice break from coding and finally talked about penguins!
Dr. Katie Kalafut visited to tell us about how she started working with the Little Blue Penguins at the Cincinnati Zoo, the trials and tribulations of getting their RFID system up and running, and the phenomenal possibilities of getting “big data” on zoo animals. She’s very excited both about how we can use RFID data to conduct scientific research on captive animals and also use the patterns of behavior as indications of animal welfare and health – for example, using movement and behavioral data, keepers may be able to detect early warning signs of health problems before animals exhibit more obvious signs.
You can read more about Katie’s research here.
