Dr Michelle LaRue
@drmichellelarue.bsky.social
Antarctic wildlife ecologist, Rutherford Discovery Fellow, Assoc Prof UCNZ, speaker, children’s book author
@natgeo Secrets of the Penguins
drmichellelarue.com
@natgeo Secrets of the Penguins
drmichellelarue.com
I love Weddell seals so much I will pick up their poop and put it in a small vial just so I can get a chance to be near them and watch them hanging out on the ice.
(AMLR permit to LaRue 2025)
Also the cute of this pup was TOO MUCH.
🧪🌎🦑🦊
(AMLR permit to LaRue 2025)
Also the cute of this pup was TOO MUCH.
🧪🌎🦑🦊
November 17, 2025 at 10:50 PM
I love Weddell seals so much I will pick up their poop and put it in a small vial just so I can get a chance to be near them and watch them hanging out on the ice.
(AMLR permit to LaRue 2025)
Also the cute of this pup was TOO MUCH.
🧪🌎🦑🦊
(AMLR permit to LaRue 2025)
Also the cute of this pup was TOO MUCH.
🧪🌎🦑🦊
We have deployed satellite tracking devices on all our animals now (10 seals and 10 penguins), plus collected feathers, blood, whiskers, etc., for more information about the animals.
ACA Permit 2025-010
🧪🌎🦑🦉
ACA Permit 2025-010
🧪🌎🦑🦉
November 15, 2025 at 4:14 AM
We have deployed satellite tracking devices on all our animals now (10 seals and 10 penguins), plus collected feathers, blood, whiskers, etc., for more information about the animals.
ACA Permit 2025-010
🧪🌎🦑🦉
ACA Permit 2025-010
🧪🌎🦑🦉
Here are the satellite tags attached to the penguins who will be carrying them for the next several months. Do you have a favorite?! Tell us!
AMLR permit to LaRue 2025
🧪🌎🦉🦑
AMLR permit to LaRue 2025
🧪🌎🦉🦑
November 11, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Here are the satellite tags attached to the penguins who will be carrying them for the next several months. Do you have a favorite?! Tell us!
AMLR permit to LaRue 2025
🧪🌎🦉🦑
AMLR permit to LaRue 2025
🧪🌎🦉🦑
We captured 18 birds today and then we surveyed the colony for bird flu, which we thankfully saw no evidence of.
Cape Crozier remains magical!
🌍🧪🦑🦉
Cape Crozier remains magical!
🌍🧪🦑🦉
November 11, 2025 at 4:52 AM
We captured 18 birds today and then we surveyed the colony for bird flu, which we thankfully saw no evidence of.
Cape Crozier remains magical!
🌍🧪🦑🦉
Cape Crozier remains magical!
🌍🧪🦑🦉
One of my favorite sights, Mount Erebus on Ross Island. Seeing it from this vantage point usually means we are in a training (survival, field training) and getting ready to go do some fun things. Cape Crozier, here we come!
🌎🇦🇶
🌎🇦🇶
November 1, 2025 at 8:48 AM
One of my favorite sights, Mount Erebus on Ross Island. Seeing it from this vantage point usually means we are in a training (survival, field training) and getting ready to go do some fun things. Cape Crozier, here we come!
🌎🇦🇶
🌎🇦🇶
K051 (my “event number”, the unique identifier for each science project) made it to Antarctica! Flew on a C17, only delayed by an hour, too. Thanks US Air Force and Antarctica NZ, now the fun begins.
🧪🦑🦊🦉🌎
🧪🦑🦊🦉🌎
October 28, 2025 at 8:15 AM
K051 (my “event number”, the unique identifier for each science project) made it to Antarctica! Flew on a C17, only delayed by an hour, too. Thanks US Air Force and Antarctica NZ, now the fun begins.
🧪🦑🦊🦉🌎
🧪🦑🦊🦉🌎
A Weddell seal mom wearing a hat* and taking a snooze next to her wonderfully-fed pup. They will continue to chill here together until mid-December when the pups wean and mom heads to the ocean to forage and regain mass.
*satellite tracking device
AMLR permit to LaRue 2024
🧪🌎🦑🦊
*satellite tracking device
AMLR permit to LaRue 2024
🧪🌎🦑🦊
October 16, 2025 at 8:43 PM
A Weddell seal mom wearing a hat* and taking a snooze next to her wonderfully-fed pup. They will continue to chill here together until mid-December when the pups wean and mom heads to the ocean to forage and regain mass.
*satellite tracking device
AMLR permit to LaRue 2024
🧪🌎🦑🦊
*satellite tracking device
AMLR permit to LaRue 2024
🧪🌎🦑🦊
This is what Adélie penguins attempting to nest on ice looks like. They aren’t supposed to do that.
🌎🧪🦑🦉
ACA 2019-006
🌎🧪🦑🦉
ACA 2019-006
October 16, 2025 at 5:48 AM
This is what Adélie penguins attempting to nest on ice looks like. They aren’t supposed to do that.
🌎🧪🦑🦉
ACA 2019-006
🌎🧪🦑🦉
ACA 2019-006
Adelie penguins porpoise because it's efficient and it allows them to breathe while they are hurrying to wherever they are going which in this case was back to the colony at Paulet Island
🧪🌍🦑🦉
🧪🌍🦑🦉
October 14, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Adelie penguins porpoise because it's efficient and it allows them to breathe while they are hurrying to wherever they are going which in this case was back to the colony at Paulet Island
🧪🌍🦑🦉
🧪🌍🦑🦉
Cinematographer Sara Matasick and Producer Heather Cruickshank visited us at UC for a screening of National Geographic’s Secrets of the Penguins & a behind-the-scenes tour of the production.
We celebrated Antarctic Season Opening, 25 years of Gateway Antarctica and of course… emperor penguins
🧪🌎🦉🦑
We celebrated Antarctic Season Opening, 25 years of Gateway Antarctica and of course… emperor penguins
🧪🌎🦉🦑
October 12, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Cinematographer Sara Matasick and Producer Heather Cruickshank visited us at UC for a screening of National Geographic’s Secrets of the Penguins & a behind-the-scenes tour of the production.
We celebrated Antarctic Season Opening, 25 years of Gateway Antarctica and of course… emperor penguins
🧪🌎🦉🦑
We celebrated Antarctic Season Opening, 25 years of Gateway Antarctica and of course… emperor penguins
🧪🌎🦉🦑
When I was on the ice w Nat Geo, we visited the emperor penguins at Atka Bay which is a colony that hops up onto the ice shelf rather than staying only on sea ice. This means that when chicks fledge they have a high-dive of a jump to reach the water. Which they do. With spectacular inelegance. 🧪🌍🦑🦉
October 7, 2025 at 3:18 AM
When I was on the ice w Nat Geo, we visited the emperor penguins at Atka Bay which is a colony that hops up onto the ice shelf rather than staying only on sea ice. This means that when chicks fledge they have a high-dive of a jump to reach the water. Which they do. With spectacular inelegance. 🧪🌍🦑🦉
Sir, I am not getting the cheese out just for you. I’m not making anything with cheese.
Larry: …
Me: *proceeds to get cheese out of the fridge just for him, which he ate proudly and then ran out of the kitchen as though he just got away with a crime*
Larry: …
Me: *proceeds to get cheese out of the fridge just for him, which he ate proudly and then ran out of the kitchen as though he just got away with a crime*
October 5, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Sir, I am not getting the cheese out just for you. I’m not making anything with cheese.
Larry: …
Me: *proceeds to get cheese out of the fridge just for him, which he ate proudly and then ran out of the kitchen as though he just got away with a crime*
Larry: …
Me: *proceeds to get cheese out of the fridge just for him, which he ate proudly and then ran out of the kitchen as though he just got away with a crime*
I think there are few things funnier than watching fat, fluffy, hungry Adelie penguin chicks chasing their parents for food
🧪🌍🦑🦉
🧪🌍🦑🦉
October 2, 2025 at 11:20 PM
I think there are few things funnier than watching fat, fluffy, hungry Adelie penguin chicks chasing their parents for food
🧪🌍🦑🦉
🧪🌍🦑🦉
Emperor penguins choose to live on sea ice, which is frozen ocean water, instead of being on land. And they’ve done this for millions of years. Incredible birds.
🧪🌎🦑🦉
Photo taken under NZ AMLR permit
🧪🌎🦑🦉
Photo taken under NZ AMLR permit
October 2, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Emperor penguins choose to live on sea ice, which is frozen ocean water, instead of being on land. And they’ve done this for millions of years. Incredible birds.
🧪🌎🦑🦉
Photo taken under NZ AMLR permit
🧪🌎🦑🦉
Photo taken under NZ AMLR permit
Can't wait to get to the ice and see these beauties again... never gets old.
Weddell seals are the southern-most marine mammal in the world and live more than 30 years!
🧪🌍🦑🦉🦊
Weddell seals are the southern-most marine mammal in the world and live more than 30 years!
🧪🌍🦑🦉🦊
October 1, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Can't wait to get to the ice and see these beauties again... never gets old.
Weddell seals are the southern-most marine mammal in the world and live more than 30 years!
🧪🌍🦑🦉🦊
Weddell seals are the southern-most marine mammal in the world and live more than 30 years!
🧪🌍🦑🦉🦊
Join Mia Wege and me to study niche partitioning among three Antarctic mesopredators!
Fully-funded PhD opportunity at U Canterbury, please email michelle.larue@canterbury.ac.nz if you're interested!
Applications will be reviewed until filled.
Fully-funded PhD opportunity at U Canterbury, please email michelle.larue@canterbury.ac.nz if you're interested!
Applications will be reviewed until filled.
September 15, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Join Mia Wege and me to study niche partitioning among three Antarctic mesopredators!
Fully-funded PhD opportunity at U Canterbury, please email michelle.larue@canterbury.ac.nz if you're interested!
Applications will be reviewed until filled.
Fully-funded PhD opportunity at U Canterbury, please email michelle.larue@canterbury.ac.nz if you're interested!
Applications will be reviewed until filled.
This one hurts. I wouldn’t have a PhD, or have had some of the best experiences in my life, or made some of my best friends #WithoutNSF & without the PGC. I was employee #1 of an organization that grew into an indispensable part of Polar Programs. And it’s being dismantled for literally no reason
🧪🌎
🧪🌎
May 6, 2025 at 6:25 AM
This one hurts. I wouldn’t have a PhD, or have had some of the best experiences in my life, or made some of my best friends #WithoutNSF & without the PGC. I was employee #1 of an organization that grew into an indispensable part of Polar Programs. And it’s being dismantled for literally no reason
🧪🌎
🧪🌎
Happy #WorldPenguinDay, folks!
I wrote a children’s book about emperor penguins a couple years ago and @neonsquid.bsky.social challenged me to take a picture of my book with an emperor penguin.
So I did*.
🧪🌎🦑🦉
*and couldn’t believe my luck!
I wrote a children’s book about emperor penguins a couple years ago and @neonsquid.bsky.social challenged me to take a picture of my book with an emperor penguin.
So I did*.
🧪🌎🦑🦉
*and couldn’t believe my luck!
April 25, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Happy #WorldPenguinDay, folks!
I wrote a children’s book about emperor penguins a couple years ago and @neonsquid.bsky.social challenged me to take a picture of my book with an emperor penguin.
So I did*.
🧪🌎🦑🦉
*and couldn’t believe my luck!
I wrote a children’s book about emperor penguins a couple years ago and @neonsquid.bsky.social challenged me to take a picture of my book with an emperor penguin.
So I did*.
🧪🌎🦑🦉
*and couldn’t believe my luck!
Penguins are amazing. Emperor penguins in particular are incredible. Marvels of evolution. And we have SO MUCH left to learn about them.
Challenge accepted.
🧪🌍🦑🦉
Challenge accepted.
🧪🌍🦑🦉
April 24, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Penguins are amazing. Emperor penguins in particular are incredible. Marvels of evolution. And we have SO MUCH left to learn about them.
Challenge accepted.
🧪🌍🦑🦉
Challenge accepted.
🧪🌍🦑🦉
So, fewer birds observed on remote sensing images is probably an indication that fewer little ones are fledging... and that ability to fledge successfully is related to nearest open water, where the food is. Emperor penguin chicks need food! So relatable.
🧪🌍🦑🦉
🧪🌍🦑🦉
April 24, 2025 at 9:07 AM
So, fewer birds observed on remote sensing images is probably an indication that fewer little ones are fledging... and that ability to fledge successfully is related to nearest open water, where the food is. Emperor penguin chicks need food! So relatable.
🧪🌍🦑🦉
🧪🌍🦑🦉
ALSO. Turns out nearest open water was correlated with fledging abundance, which makes sense. Longer walks for the adults means chicks go hungry longer, possibly leading to fewer of them successfully fledging.
Close, but not too close, open water = more food for chicks.
🧪🌍🦑🦉
Close, but not too close, open water = more food for chicks.
🧪🌍🦑🦉
April 24, 2025 at 9:07 AM
ALSO. Turns out nearest open water was correlated with fledging abundance, which makes sense. Longer walks for the adults means chicks go hungry longer, possibly leading to fewer of them successfully fledging.
Close, but not too close, open water = more food for chicks.
🧪🌍🦑🦉
Close, but not too close, open water = more food for chicks.
🧪🌍🦑🦉
Lower fledgling abundance (Antarctic-wide; lots of regional variation... again, providing the correlation in Bilgecan's work is real + consistent) would mean that fewer chicks are surviving to swim for the first time.
Why would that be?
🧪🌍🌍🦑🦉
Why would that be?
🧪🌍🌍🦑🦉
April 24, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Lower fledgling abundance (Antarctic-wide; lots of regional variation... again, providing the correlation in Bilgecan's work is real + consistent) would mean that fewer chicks are surviving to swim for the first time.
Why would that be?
🧪🌍🌍🦑🦉
Why would that be?
🧪🌍🌍🦑🦉
Statistically, the decline was real. But until Bilgecan's work, we had a bunch of working hypotheses as to what this meant. Adult mortality? Natural variation? Lower recruitment? Increased skip breeding? Or maybe a proxy for breeding success? Or something else?🧪🌍🦑🦉
April 24, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Statistically, the decline was real. But until Bilgecan's work, we had a bunch of working hypotheses as to what this meant. Adult mortality? Natural variation? Lower recruitment? Increased skip breeding? Or maybe a proxy for breeding success? Or something else?🧪🌍🦑🦉
This is important for a few reasons (IMO), the primary of which is that we published a ~10% decrease in the global population (2009-2018) by analyzing remotely sensed images for 50 colonies. Doesn't sound like great news... and I wouldn't say it is....
April 24, 2025 at 9:07 AM
This is important for a few reasons (IMO), the primary of which is that we published a ~10% decrease in the global population (2009-2018) by analyzing remotely sensed images for 50 colonies. Doesn't sound like great news... and I wouldn't say it is....