African penguins can recognize each other by the black spots on their white chests. This has been shown by a study published in the journal. Animal Behavior.
Scientists conducted an experiment on a colony of African penguins in a marine park in Italy. In the wild, they live on the southern coast of Africa and are distinguished by complex social relationships. So they can communicate with sounds, and each group has its own set of similar human dialects.
To learn how penguins tell each other apart, scientists built a small enclosure equipped with high, opaque walls and video cameras. They then hung life-size photographs of two penguins, a stranger, and the test subject’s “partner” on the far wall of the enclosure. Watching the video showed that the penguins could distinguish a stranger from their partner: They looked at their partner longer.
But when scientists edited photos to hide black spots on the birds’ chests, the test penguin looked from one photo to the next. This behavior may mean that the penguins cannot determine whether they recognize the bird in the picture.
Previously, Dancing Monkeys in Pakistan discovered increased stress hormone levels.