It is a species that is severely threatened by global warming. British scientists announced on Friday that they have identified a new colony of emperor penguins in Antarctica using satellite imagery of the continent.
The research team discovered the colony of 500 members thanks to the dark spots left by the excrement of these animals on the ice floe, clearly visible from space, the British Antarctic Survey, a British research organization, explains in a press release. This new colony brings the number of groups of emperor penguins identified along the Antarctic coast to 66, half of which have now been spotted thanks to satellite imagery.
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“It is an exciting discovery (…) but while it is also good news (…), this colony is small and located in a region that has been severely affected by the melting of the pack ice,” said Professor Peter Fretwell, who researched this Conducted research for the British Antarctic Survey.
Endangered species
The emperor penguin, the largest penguin species that lives and breeds only in Antarctica, was recently listed as an endangered species by the US Wildlife Administration. Global warming and melting sea ice are threatening the penguin’s breeding grounds, while ocean acidification is threatening certain species of crustaceans on which it feeds.
Scientists estimate that with current global warming, almost all emperor penguins could be extinct by the end of the century. Scientists worked on this project to identify penguin colonies using a satellite mission developed as part of Europe’s Copernicus climate change program.