| Weighing Monkeys & Penguins |
An Engineering student, Kim Grant, asked us how to weigh penguins and monkeys at a zoo.monkey The animals need to be weighed in order to determine their health. Because the fur and feathers tend to camouflage an animals' weight, a system of weighing the animals is imperative. One of the problems encountered by the engineering student when designing the weighing system is ".. monkeys do not stand still and penguins do not travel alone."Hi Kim, There are several methods we have used successfully for weighing difficult animals. A few suggestions follow: 1.) Penguins: If it causes too much commotion and stress on the animal to individually select and weigh them, I recommend a platform scale (large enough for only one bird) be placed under a food dispenser. In that way, only one bird at a time will be weighed. The food or the debris on the scale can be "zero-ed out" before each weighing. Are you able to identify each bird visually to determine weight of bird and subsequent changes? If not, and a marking system is used, you may be forced to select and individually weigh each penguin. 2.) Monkeys: Due to the dexterity of the subjects, a sling scale is the easiest, again if you select and weigh. If not, then a weigh bar, placed in an area of high traffic, could weigh individual animals. As each one hangs from the bar their weight can be measured. Both scales should be stainless steel and hermetically sealed so they will stand up to excrement, washdowns, etc. We will need to know the dimensions required for the scales, but I imagine we could build each custom electronic digital scale, including digital readout, for $600.00 to 1100.00. I hope this information is of help to you. Best Regards, Jon L. Stimpson President Measurement Specialists, Inc. 1-800-899-9988 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
Specializing in the engineering of custom systems for standard and specialized environments, Measurement Specialists has worked with aerospace and defense contractors, steel mills and countless other industries to develop successful force measurement programs
Our efficient, high quality, manufacturing process allows us to design and build standard and custom load cells at a competive price while providing additional options and services such as high temperature load cells, specialized calibrations, custom electronics and PC programming, and systems integration.
