Four New Emperor Penguin Colonies Were Spotted in Antarctica From Space — Thanks to Their Poop

Penguins are tantamount to Antarctica, whether Adelie, Emperor, Chinstrap, Macaroni, or Gentoo. As these pudgy, fluffy seabirds waddle from their nests towards the sea, they carve intricate trails in the blue ice which appear like black-and-white patterns to distant watchers. In one study, however, scientists spotted some new colonies of Emperor penguins, not with a piece of distant camera equipment or a pair of binoculars, but by “spotting their brown-colored poop from space.” A team from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) monitored the satellite imagery to discover trails of brown poop left over by penguins in the ice. They published their findings in the journal Antarctic Science.

Funnily enough, the satellite imagery prevented the scientists from encountering the penguin colony up close, which would have caused them to burst into squirmy giggles because penguin poop has high levels of nitrous oxide, which is full of bad stench, according to IFL Science. The newest colony was found after assessing the images from a satellite at Verleger Point, West Antarctica, which revealed a colony of approximately 500 penguins. The colonies might have existed for several years, but the discovery wasn’t confirmed until Peter Fretwell, the geographic information officer at the BAS, pored through the images to investigate how the penguin colonies were disappearing as climate change threatened to melt the thick cloak of Antarctic ice.

“By the end of the century, we think that almost all emperor penguin colonies will no longer be viable. They’re not going to survive in the long run,” Fretwell told NBC News. The findings “give us an idea of the distribution and where the colonies are, and that’s really, really important if we’re going to monitor how they adapt to climate change,” he said. “But it doesn’t change the big picture that much.” While the discovery of these four colonies is good news, the numbers of Emperor penguins are at the edge of a catastrophic decline as the sea ice thins away with global warming.

“With current projections of climate change, this habitat is likely to decline. The most recent projects suggest that, under current warming trends, 80% of colonies will be quasi-extinct by the end of the century,” Fretwell said in a press release. Adding to NBC News, he said, “By the end of the century we think that almost all emperor penguin colonies will no longer be viable. They’re not going to survive in the long run.”

The team chose Emperor penguins because they’re the largest species of penguins in Antarctica, often weighing around 90 pounds. There are nearly 600,000 penguins estimated to reside in the sea ice of this region. They breed during the coldest months of the year when bitterly whipping winds make it difficult for them to leave their nests. Male penguins then incubate the eggs by balancing them carefully on their feet while the females go out to feed. But as the planet heats up, the breeding is on a steep decline, which would be rendered uncontrollable if human activity continues to be the same.