North & South – June 2019

NORTH & SOUTH| JUNE 2019| 23

ates“fanartforscience”that

guidesreadersthrougha vari-

etyofcomplextopics,includ-

ingtheworkofNewZealand

researcherDrSiouxsieWiles.

Clarksonwelcomesthe

trend.“It’dbecoolifmore

scientistssawcomicsasthe

waytogoforcommunicat-

ingtheirresearch,”shesays.

“They’rereallyapproachable.

It’seasiertoputa bitofhu-

mourin.”

Withsuchbroadappeal,

it’snowonderthefour-panel

tawakicomichascapturedat-

tention,reachinga globalau-

dienceofthousandswithits

intrepidpenguintale(tawaki-

project.org).Andtherearestill

talestobetold:a newround

ofsatellitetrackingaimsto

discoverwhattawakidoafter

moulting.“Oncetheyfinish

themoult,theydisappearfor

threemonthsandnobody

knowswheretheygo,”says

Mattern.

Withfiveyearsofdatare-

corded,theteamisgradually

uncloakingthesecretlifeof

tawaki.“They’redefinitely

notthe‘least-known’penguin

speciesanymore,butthey

arestillthemostenigmatic.

Thereisnopenguinspecies

thatismoresecretive,more

difficulttofind,andmore

difficulttoworkwith– and

that’snotgoingto change.”

ELLEN RYKERS

comic,it madeit somucheas-

iertocaptureatmosphereand

personalities.”

Comicsareanemerging

trendinsciencecommunica-

tion,withClarksonleading

thefieldhereinNewZealand.

Inadditiontohertawaki

work,she’sproducedcom-

icsonhoihoforMattern,on

whitebaitforAucklandZoo,

andonthesub-Antarcticfor

theSchoolJournal. Overseas,

illustrator Maki Naro cre-

lustrator”GiselleClarksonto

transformtheresearchintoa

comicstrip.“She’sfunnyas

hell,”hesays.“Ijustknewit

wasgoingtobehilarious.”

Clarksonwasimmediately

onboard,especiallyasshe’d

previouslyassistedwithsome

tawakifieldwork.“Igotto

spendagesobservingthe

penguinsandunderstanding

theirenvironment...andget-

tingcrappedon,”shelaughs.

“When it came to doing the

60cm-talltawakitravelsup
to7000kmtofeedinsub-
Antarcticwaters.
“They’reactuallyswimming
pasta mega-buffetoffoodjust
togotothesub-Antarctic,”
saysMattern.“It’sallpretty
strange,butthereseemstobe
aninnervoicetellingthem,
‘Youhavetogotherenow.’”
Armedwiththisdazzling
discovery,Matternoptedto
foregotheusualpressrelease,
instead hiring “adventureil -

Left:Extractsfrom

illustratorGiselle

Clarkson’scomic

abouttherare

tawakipenguin;her

workhasreached

a globalaudience,

andispartofa trend

amongscientists

tousecomicsasa

communication tool.