So all African penguins look exactly the same, right? Well, no.

It turns out every penguin has its own unique "fingerprint" in the form of a pattern of black spots on its chest, and these black feathers remain exactly the same through every annual moult.

Now, scientists have developed an identification system based on smart technology that recognises and tracks individual birds by recording their unique spot patterns via remote camera sensing.

The system, which can be applied to monitor other species such as zebras, sharks, whales, butterflies and any others with individual or complex patterns on their skin or feathers, was pioneered on Robben Island's African penguin population...