Chris Oosthuizen
Dr. Chris Oosthuizen's research focuses on the ecology of marine predators, specifically seabirds, seals, and cetaceans, within sub-Antarctic and Antarctic ecosystems. His primary projects currently revolve around studying the foraging behavior of krill-dependent Adélie, Gentoo, and Chinstrap penguin populations in the Antarctic Peninsula region. To gather detailed information on the foraging behavior of adult, breeding penguins, Dr. Oosthuizen employs miniaturized Global Positioning System (GPS), accelerometers, time-depth recorders, and animal-borne cameras.
Dr. Oosthuizen contributed to the Marion Island Marine Mammal Programme at the University of Pretoria from 2007 to 2020. He has a background in population ecology and the application of modern capture-recapture models. Ongoing collaborative projects in this field include demographic studies on southern elephant seals and African penguins.