Scientists have tracked down previously undiscovered colonies of Antarctic emperor penguins after spotting trails of their droppings on satellite pictures, a study said Tuesday.
Zooming in on individual penguins is beyond current satellite imagery, but the tell-tale reddish-brown stains on the polar ice helped hone in on large groups of the black and white flightless birds.
Mapping expert Peter Fretwell of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) said the poop trail helps to track movements of the penguins, which in turn helps to monitor how they respond to climate change.
"We can't see actual penguins on the satellite maps because the resolution isn't good enough. But during the breeding season the birds stay at a colony for eight months," he said.
"The ice gets pretty dirty and it's the guano stains that we can see," he added.
The penguins spend much of their lives at sea, but return to their colonies to breed during the Antarctic winter. Scientists managed to identify 38 colonies, including 10 new ones, according to the research published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.
"This is a very exciting development," said BAS penguin ecologist Phil Trathan. "Now we know exactly where the penguins are, the next step will be to count each colony so we can get a much better picture of population size.
"Using satellite images combined with counts of penguin numbers puts us in a much better position to monitor future population changes over time."
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