Data Collection
Months of data collection from the series of prototype nests led to a mountain of numbers in need of crunching to determine which of the prototype designs would best suit the nesting needs of the penguins. While even a quick look at the results seemed to strongly suggest that two of the designs had performed above and beyond any of the other options this information had to be proven. In order to provide that proof, it meant evaluating the results of the data collected from all of the nests over the course of months.
Phase 1 data was modeled and analyzed by the research group at San Diego Zoo (a massive thank you to them for combing through hundreds of thousands of data points) and results were returned showing clear differentiation in the performance of the nest designs. This leads to two of the designs constructed from a single material combination moving forward into the next round of testing.
After more than 270,000 data points were run through statistical analysis it was clear that the two nests that had appeared to excel in the testing process had indeed exceeded the expectations by a significant margin. By proving without a doubt that these two nest designs had the capability to maintain the proper internal environmental conditions that led to the next step in the process, building a large collection of nests for field testing.
The stated goal beginning with the nest workshop in early 2016 was that interior conditions should not exceed 35 degrees Celsius at any point for the design to be considered successful. Each of the four designs that had previously been utilized not only routinely exceeded this parameter, most of them frequently reached about 45 degrees Celsius. This temperature is considered fatal for the development of an egg within less than 30 minutes and forces adult birds to abandon to prevent death from heat stroke.
The two nests that were found to perform most strongly not only met this criteria, they both far exceeded the goal. Each of these two nests recorded almost 6,000 temperature data points and each nest maintained below 32 degrees Celsius with 100% consistency. Other nests remained below the 35 degree Celsius with near perfect consistency and design aspects of these would be studied further.
Finding The Right Design
Humidity inside the nest was a consideration that was targeted as a significant factor towards the determination of success in addition to temperature and heat stress index. Maintaining the humidity within a range of 70 to 100% was critical for the nest prototype to be considered a success. As opposed to temperature where there was a clear delineation between the performance of the nest prototypes, humidity was less of a challenge to be kept within range.
After all of this was said and done, the two artificial nest designs that appeared to have excelled were proven scientifically to meet the strict criteria needed for successful incubation and rearing of penguins. This meant that these two nests were ready for the next stage of the testing process, building them in sufficient quantity to allow for installation and testing in active penguin colonies. In order for this to happen a great number of pieces had to fall into place. One of these pieces was a significant fundraising effort, and numerous zoological facilities and
individuals stepped up to make this a success.
What's Next?
