Last week, The New York Times went backstage at the Oregon Zoo for an intimate look at the fake eggs the zoo was developing as part of its endangered Condor hatchery program.
The idea is that keepers can swap the real eggs the birds lay for clever egg spies that look and feel the same. These specially designed, 3D-printed eggs are equipped with sensors that can monitor the general environment of the nest and the California condor’s natural behaviors (such as how long they were on the egg and when they mated between the parents). .
In addition to recording data related to ambient temperature and motion, there is also a small audio recorder that can capture ambient sounds. So what’s the point of the whole charade?
The Oregon Zoo’s goal is to use all of the data collected by the egg to better mimic natural conditions in their artificial incubators, whether that be adjusting the temperatures they set these machines to, integrating of periodic movements or playing the sounds of the nest, which will ideally improve the results of its breeding efforts. And it’s not the only group tinkering with technology in this way.
A ‘spy hippopotamus’
This setup at the Oregon Zoo may sound vaguely familiar, if you’ve been a fan of the PBS show “Spy in the wild.” The central joke of the series is that engineers tinker hyper realistic robots disguised as animals, Eggsboulders and more to get up close and personal with a medley of wildlife from every corner of the planet.
[Related: Need to fight invasive fish? Just introduce a scary robot]
If peeking into the inner lives of zoo animals is a task that requires an innovative technical solution, imagine the challenges of studying animals in their natural habitat, in regions that are typically insecure or even treacherous for humans to visit. Add cameras and other heavy equipment and it becomes an even more demanding journey. Instead of having people do the Jane Goodall method of community immersion with animals, this one disguised spies can provide valuable insights into group or individual behavior and habits without being intrusive or overly invasive to their ordinary way of life.
A penguin carriage
Testing unconventional methods like this is essential for researchers to understand as much as possible endangered animalsas scientists need to collect important information in a relatively short period of time to aid in their conservation.
[Related: Open data is a blessing for science—but it comes with its own curses]
To prove that these inventions are not all gimmicks and have some practical use, a Study from 2014 in Nature showed that a penguin-shaped rover can collect more useful data on penguin colonies than human researchers, whose presence increased stress levels in the animals.
The point of all this animal espionage?
Minimizing the effects created by human scientists has always been a struggle in behavioral research for the natural sciences. Along with the advancement of other technologies such as better cameras and more instant data transfer, ingenious new sensor devices like the spy eggs are changing the field itself. The other benefit is that occasionally non-scientists can also gain exclusive access to the secret lives of these creatures, such as through “Spy in the Wild”, and use them as portals to contact the world to them away.
