Calum Ninnes
Position: former student, University of Waikato. Currently Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Florida. Field: Animal behaviour and conservation
With Antarctica becoming an increasingly popular tourist destination, people are asking how the presence of humans affects this isolated and pristine ecosystem. Calum, with his supervisor, University of Waikato Professor Joe Waas, asked this question, with a specific interest in how humans were affecting penguins.
Calum Ninnes
Calum was a student with the University of Waikato, he spent a summer down in Antarctica for his research on penguins.
To do this, he spent eight weeks living in a tent out on the ice (that’s eight weeks without a shower!) observing penguin behaviour and collecting blood samples from the animals. From this, he is able to analyse the behaviour of penguins when they come into contact with humans, as well as measure stress levels physiologically.
Penguin behaviour
With Antarctica becoming an increasingly popular tourist destination, people are asking how the presence of humans affects this isolated and pristine ecosystem. Research has been conducted in Antarctica to specifically find out how humans are affecting penguins. This research involved observing penguin behaviour and collecting blood samples from the animals. From this, scientists were able to analyse the behaviour of penguins when they come into contact with humans, as well as measure there stress levels physiologically.
His research has important implications for eco-tourism. If penguins show significant stress levels caused by human presence, recommendations can be made to minimise contact. Calum thinks Antarctica should be kept as pristine and untouched as possible, highlighting it as an important resource for scientists. He does think some eco-tourism is good because it helps to teach people about Antarctica and its animals, but he doesn’t want to see it spoiled and thinks that mass tourism would be bad.
Calum Ninnes at Scott Base
Research student Calum Ninnes stands beside a sign-post showing how far Scott Base is from various major cities.
When asked about his time in Antarctica he describes it as “an awesome experience [and that] he’d definitely go back”. The best part was seeing all the different types of wildlife but the worst would have been the toilet facilities. He believes his time in Antarctica was great, both as a learning experience but also because he got to work with a great team of people, so had fun socially.
Since leaving the University of Waikato, Callum has spent time at the University of Gottenburg, where, though based in Sweden, he undertook fieldwork in Tanzania, South Africa and Spain, studying how male colour signals influence male competition in weaverbirds. In 2017 he moved to the University of Florida as a Postdoctoral Researcher.
This article is based on information current in 2007 and updated in 2018.
