New Study Bumps Global Emperor Penguin Numbers by 10 Percent

Satellite images of penguin poop reveal eight entirely new colonies and confirm the existence of another three first reported in the 1960s.

Written byAmanda Heidt

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Emperor Penguin, Antarctica, British Antarctic Survey, guano, climate change, ecology, conservation, sea ice, satellite, remote sensing, Sentinel-2

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High-resolution satellite imagery has documented the existence of 61 Emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica, increasing the known number of colonies in the region by 20 percent.

The findings, published yesterday (August 4) in Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, relied on streaks of the penguins’ rusty red guano captured in images of sea ice taken from space. While the bump in numbers is welcome news to conservationists, the findings come with the caveat that these new colonies, and indeed the species itself, are susceptible to climate change.

“The [new colonies] are an exciting discovery,” Peter Fretwell, a geospatial analyst with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) who led the research, tells The Guardian. “Whilst this is good news, the colonies are small,” meaning they only increase the global population by 5–10 percent, amounting to roughly 278,500 breeding pairs worldwide.

These smaller colonies, consisting of a few hundred ...

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Meet the Author

Amanda Heidt
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Amanda first began dabbling in scicom as a master’s student studying marine science at Moss Landing Marine Labs, where she edited the student blog and interned at a local NPR station. She enjoyed that process of demystifying science so much that after receiving her degree in 2019, she went straight into a second master’s program in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Formerly an intern at The Scientist, Amanda joined the team as a staff reporter and editor in 2021 and oversaw the publication’s internship program, assigned and edited the Foundations, Scientist to Watch, and Short Lit columns, and contributed original reporting across the publication. Amanda’s stories often focus on issues of equity and representation in academia, and she brings this same commitment to DEI to the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains and to the board of the National Association of Science Writers, which she has served on since 2022. She is currently based in the outdoor playground that is Moab, Utah. Read more of her work at www.amandaheidt.com.
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