Identification of imperial cormorant Phalacrocorax atriceps behaviour using accelerometers

Abstract

Animal behaviour is largely defined in terms of movement or lack of it, so precise quantification of animal movement is a potentially powerful way of identifying several animal behaviours. Animal-attached tags that record acceleration lend themselves particularly to this. In this work we show how tri-axial acceleration can be used to identify some of the behaviours of imperial cormorants Phalacrocorax atriceps. Based on the assessment of tri-axial acceleration signals, the following behaviours were identified in free-living birds: standing, sitting, floating on water, flying, walking and diving. During diving, the descent, bottom and ascent phases could be distinguished. We considered the factors which coded for the different behaviours and this allowed us to design a key that will allow researchers assessing tri-axial accelerometry data to identify some of the behaviours that imperial cormorants perform. © Inter-Research 2008.