Over the last two decades there has been remarkable progress in the development
of sensory systems coupled with loggers that have been attached to free-living marine
animals. Increases in sensor resolution, sensor diversity and memory size have been coupled
with decreases in unit size. Thus, the periods over which animals have been monitored have
increased from hours to months while the sampling frequency has decreased from minutes
or seconds to fractions of a second. Four main interrelated trends can be identified.
Determination of; (1) animal position in three dimensions, (2) the characteristics of the environment
in which the animals operate, (3) animal behaviour and (4) energy management. The
elucidation of these trends in penguins is discussed and perspectives given with regard to
what is expected in the future
