Finola Kirrane: How peckish are penguins? Using animal-borne devices to predict the feeding habits of Chinstrap penguins

In this episode of the Meliora Podcast Student Research Symposium we are joined by final-year MSci Biology and Marine Biology student Finola Kirrane who dives into her dissertation about the use of animal-borne devices to unravel the feeding habits of Chinstrap penguins in Antarctica.Our discussion begins with Finola sharing her experience processing the mountains of data collected by colleagues at the British Antarctic Survey to paint a holistic picture of penguin foraging strategies. She then walks us through how she constructed a model which can predict the number of prey items caught by penguins based on their dive patterns, describing some new discoveries about the behaviour of peckish penguins. Finally, we consider the future applications of this approach through a conservation and sustainability lens, touching on the importance of Antarctic environments to human societies.Finola's passion for penguins shines bright throughout the episode, so we hope you enjoy listening!Episode guest: Finola KirraneEpisode host: Prof Simon KempEpisode editor: Jack DinhamThe Meliora Podcast Student Research Symposium is part of the 2024 Student Takeover Season where we celebrate the fantastic sustainability research work of our Undergraduate Students.Engage with us on instagram and X: @meliorapodcast