To tell the sex of a Galápagos penguin, measure its beak, researchers say

Date:  June 28, 2018

Source:  University of Washington

Summary:

For a Galápagos penguin, beak size is nearly a perfect indicator of whether a bird is male or female, scientists have discovered. Armed with this knowledge, researchers could determine the sex of a bird quickly and accurately in the wild without taking a blood sample -- speeding up field studies of this unusual and endangered seabird.

It turns out that to tell the sex of a Galápagos penguin, all you need is a ruler.

In a paper published April 5 in the journal Endangered Species Research, scientists at the University of Washington announced that, for a Galápagos penguin, beak size is nearly a perfect indicator of whether a bird is male or female. Armed with this knowledge, researchers could determine the sex of a bird quickly and accurately in the wild without taking a blood sample -- speeding up field studies of this unusual and endangered seabird.

"For Galápagos penguins, we really wanted to understand if there was a simple 'rule' we could employ to determine sex -- a sign that would be fast and reliable," said lead author Caroline Cappello, a UW doctoral student in biology.

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