Scientist have used a satellite from space to count penguins on Earth. Isn't that interesting? What is even more interesting is that the first-ever census showed a population spike for the birds.
Scientists from the U.K and the U.S. collaborated, and using the satellite information, they found 44 emperor penguin colonies. In all, there were 595,000 of the black and white birds, which is two times as many penguins as the researches expected to see. Isn't that amazing?
Doctoral student Michelle LaRue said, "Now that we have this baseline information, we can start asking new questions." It will be great to see what researchers do moving forward. There is little doubt they will learn even more details about the lives of these fascinating arctic birds.
Guess how researchers were able to use the satellites in space to track the birds? They tracked brown guano from their droppings. From there, they could recognize the penguins themselves. Who knew they would have to go so far into space to find out something about something like this on Earth?
Like this article? See more by Kate James at Gather.com
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