Using satellite images, British researchers have discovered a previously unknown colony of emperor penguins in Antarctica. The animals showed traces of feces: The brown spots on the ice were easy to see from space, according to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), England’s polar research program.
The penguin colony is small and is “in a region hard hit by sea ice loss,” BAS researcher Peter Fretwell said, according to the British PA news agency. The discovery of the roughly 500-strong colony in West Antarctica brings the total number of known emperor penguin breeding grounds on the Antarctic coast to 66 – half of which have been identified using satellite data.
Because the colonies often live in remote, inaccessible areas, sometimes with temperatures as low as -60 degrees Celsius, they are difficult to research. According to the scientists, it is now possible to detect half of the known colonies using satellite images.
Threatened by global warming
With a length of about 120 centimeters, emperor penguins are the largest penguin species. They need sea ice to reproduce. Projections assume that under current global warming scenarios, 80 percent of colonies would be virtually extinct by the end of the century, warns the British Antarctic Survey, Britain’s polar research program.
Source: Krone
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