Using satellite imagery, researchers in West Antarctica made a startling discovery: they found a new colony of emperor penguins consisting of approximately 1,000 adult birds living in about 500 breeding pairs with their young.
Since only 66 known emperor penguin colonies are in the area, this discovery is deemed significant, Weather.com reports.
In Time for Penguin Awareness Day
A geographic information officer with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) made the recent discovery after noticing penguin guano (droppings) staining the ice in images from the European Space Agency's two Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites.
Higher-resolution photographs of the Maxar WorldView-3 satellite in October 2022 confirmed the images.
The ground-breaking discovery was made on Jan. 20, which the scientific community recognizes as Penguin Awareness Day.
"This is an exciting discovery," said British Antarctic Survey researcher Dr. Peter Fretwell. "[But] like many of the recently discovered sites, this colony is small and in a region badly affected by recent sea ice loss."
Emperor penguins are the tallest and heaviest penguins and are considered a threatened species. According to Animal Diversity, emperor penguins are the largest sea birds in the Antarctic, standing 101 to 132 cm tall. Their wingspan ranges from 76 to 89 cm.
They breed only on packed sea ice, which is melting at an alarming rate due to climate change, putting them at risk of extinction. Scientists predict that 90% of emperor penguin colonies will be extinct by the end of the century.
Research and Preservation Efforts
Satellite technology is a critical tool in emperor penguin conservation efforts. Understanding and protecting the emperor penguin population requires detecting new colonies from space.
The British Antarctic Survey intends to monitor the colony using satellite imagery, providing information on the population's size and distribution.
While the discovery of the new colony is wonderful news, it also serves as a reminder of the vulnerable situation that emperor penguins face due to climate change.
The melting sea ice is decreasing the emperor penguin population, and conservation efforts are needed to ensure their survival.
According to Mongabay, under the business-as-usual scenario, in which countries fail to halt climate change, penguin numbers will drop by 86 percent by 2100.
However, if nations can limit emissions and global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, emperor penguin numbers will drop by about 31%, giving them a fighting chance of survival.
The emperor penguin is a species that is unique to and symbolic of the Antarctic, and the fact that its population is on the decline indicates the impact of climate change on the region.
The finding of a new colony highlights how important it is to maintain research and conservation efforts to protect the delicate ecosystem of the Antarctic, as well as the birds that live there.
It is also worth noting that the discovery of this new colony is not necessarily indicative of an expanding population but instead of a new area where they have been able to establish themselves.
The colony can also be viewed as a sign of the species' adaptation and resilience, allowing them to survive in different areas as their original habitats become inhospitable.
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