--- description: Researchers dressed up a four-wheeled rover like a baby emperor penguin to study them without disturbing their natural behavior title: Scientists Get a Little More Creative to Study Penguins Up-Close image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ea9f9ff2402daa6/698763d83c1639573f44f65e/penguins.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Environment](/tag/environment/) ## Environment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Scientists Get a Little More Creative to Study Penguins Up-Close by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 3, 2014 2:09 PM CUT  Penguins jump into the water on Paulet Island in Antarctica. Penguins jump into the water on Paulet Island in Antarctica.Wolfgang Kaehler—LightRocket/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 3, 2014 2:09 PM CUT Scientists may have [discovered](http://www.nature.com/nmeth/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nmeth.3173.html#videos "undefined") a way to study animals without disturbing their natural behavior, according to a new study, and it involves dressing up. Observing animals without disturbing their state of being has long been an issue, the researchers [wrote](http://www.nature.com/nmeth/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nmeth.3173.html#videos "undefined") in _Nature Methods_. So, in an effort to fix that, an international team of scientists made four-wheel rovers look like baby emperor penguins and drove them over to colonies of the animals to gauge their reactions and collect data. The scientists implanted microchips in about 34 king penguins to monitor the animals’ heart rates when they were approached by the rovers, according to . Turns out, they were slightly less stressed (and notably for shorter periods of time) when approached by the rovers than when near humans. The animals were so comfortable around the robotic penguin that adult ones sang to it and the babies huddled around it as if it were their own. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3554335/penguins-science-research-animals/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3554335/penguins-science-research-animals/"},"headline":"Scientists Get a Little More Creative to Study Penguins Up-Close","datePublished":"2014-11-03T14:09:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:10:39.733Z","description":"They made four-wheel rovers look like baby emperor penguins","url":"https://time.com/3554335/penguins-science-research-animals/","keywords":["Environment","animals","Studies","Science topic","Research"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ea9f9ff2402daa6/698763d83c1639573f44f65e/penguins.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ea9f9ff2402daa6/698763d83c1639573f44f65e/penguins.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Antarctica, Antarctic Peninsula, Paulet Island, Adelie","caption":"Antarctica, Antarctic Peninsula, Paulet Island, Adelie","creditText":"Wolfgang Kaehler—LightRocket/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3554335/penguins-science-research-animals/","name":"Scientists Get a Little More Creative to Study Penguins Up-Close"}}]}] ```