Penguins from Space: A New Satellite Census Doubles the Known Population of Emperors
Friday, April 13, 2012 - 16:30
in Earth & Climate
A group of geographers and ecologists from three continents has taken an unprecedented look at Antarctica's emperor penguins. Using very high resolution (VHR) images from satellites 450 kilometers above Earth, the team has come up with the first total population count for an entire species. With a whopping 595,000 penguins, they found nearly twice as many emperor penguins as did previous studies, and they counted 46 colonies, up from the earlier total of 38. Their results were published today in PLoS One . [More]
Read the whole article on Scientific American
More from Scientific American
Related
- Melting sea ice threatens emperor penguins, study findsWed, 20 Jun 2012, 13:07:50 EDT
- Emperor penguins use sea ice to rest between long foraging periods Wed, 21 Nov 2012, 22:02:55 EST
- Emperor penguins march toward extinction?Tue, 27 Jan 2009, 9:16:51 EST
- Scientists map penguins from spaceTue, 2 Jun 2009, 11:26:55 EDT
- Penguins continue diving long after muscles run out of oxygenThu, 12 May 2011, 5:33:45 EDT