Scientists discover emperor penguin colony in Antarctica using satellite images to track penguin poo

An  emperor penguin colony  has been discovered by scientists in the usually inaccessible regions of Antarctica. The discovery was made in the remote continent after seeing the colony using satellite images.

The colony is made up of around 500 birds and its discovery means the total number of known breeding sites on the continent is now 66. . Half of the colonies here have been discovered via space satellites.

Dr Peter Fretwell, of the British Antarctic Survey, who led the research said: “This is an exciting discovery. [But] like many of the recently discovered sites, this colony is small and in a region badly affected by recent sea ice loss.”

British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scientists have been looking for new colonies for the last 15 years using satellite imagery to locate brown guano stains (also known as penguin poo) on the ice and go from there.