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courtesy DigitalGlobe
An emperor penguin colony near Halley Bay in Antarctica in an undated satellite image.
Deborah Zabarenko / Reuters, file
Counting emperor penguins in their icy Antarctic habitat was not easy until researchers used new technology to map the birds from space.
Reuters reports — Using satellite mapping with resolution high enough to distinguish ice shadows from penguin poo, an international team has carried out what they say is an unprecedented penguin census from the heavens over the past three years.
The good news was that the team found the Antarctic emperor penguin population numbered about 595,000, nearly double previous estimates.
But the bad news was that some colonies have disappeared altogether due to changing weather patterns and the long-term future of the birds is far from assured. Read the full story.
Martin Passingham / Reuters
Emperor penguins are seen in Dumont d'Urville, Antarctica, on April 10, 2012.
Leave a Comment:
Nice picture.
Plentiful? Imagine if that were a photograph of all of the people in Africa, or South America, or North America, or... Suddenly that concentration of the species, open to a localized catastrophe, doesn't seem so huge and invulnerable.
Steve in WA-2586156 species go extinct every day - it's just what happens.
Ah and so goes the March of the Penguins! Where is Morgan Freeman when you need him?
They must be stopped.
Oh, they look all innocent, but Penguins are evil, EVIL!! I tells you.
A polar bear would be in polar bear heaven if there..its like steaks to them.
@ daryl-2183015..depends on where the body falls..Reno city limits does end west of the city at the California/Nevada line.
Let's see who's going to turn this into a political rant. ;-)
You just did...
It's Obama's fault; no, he inherited the penguins from Bush. There goes Romney flip-flopping again on penguins.
Koch Brothers poo.
Yankiwi -- I threw the topic open for discussion to see if anyone would bite. And, lo and behold, you seemed to have taken offense.
OH, that means Global warming is a positive for the survival of the species, along with plenty of food.!!!!!!!! F U Greenie Wienies.
I am soo very tired of the global warming schpeal being over-used time and time again.. Simply put, it's a sham.
alex
That ice would be 40 ft deeper if the world wasn't get warmer.
lol, this reminds me of the Super Mario 64 level, where you have to save the baby penguin haha.
It looks like a surfer on a big kahuna wave.
And all this time I'd thought "Go count penguins" was a McMurdo euphamism...
that is not a picture from space its a near orbit photo. from space the earth is the size on one of those little birds.
The focal point of those satellite images is adjustable. Just say'in.
I'm waiting for the idiotic and funny comments on this one that people will come up with.
Penguin Power!!!!!!
The leader of Antarctica is the Emperor Penguin. Maybe we can form an allaince with him.
Hmmmm. So, changes in environment caused the penguin population to move. Wow, maybe some other species can learn from that.
GOP response: Penguins are destroying our Antarctica. They must be destroyed. We need an open season on Penguins.
Leave it to you 2 to start a political discussion. Political discussions always end up in arguements, so grow up.
We could solve two problems by introducing polar bears to Antarctica: first, no more drowning polar bear cubs for NatGeo to film; and second, a plentiful supply of food for the bears and reduced penguin population. It's a slam-dunk.
BTW, I support the right to arm bears.
Looks like a better job of crowd control than I generally from with humans!
If global warming means we are going to have winters like the just past one, here in the Atlantic Northeast, then so be it.
They doubled, but the text said global warming was wiping out others! This is pure lying political junk science from liberals who don't know simple arithmetic.
You're right, it is a lie, you being here is proof it hasn't wiped the non believers yet.
I read a scientific article within the past two weeks, and sorry, don't recall the name of it, but it was on the study of penguins and what they are finding is the following: The penguins that stay on the Antarctic continent year round are in fact growing and thriving, simply because they are masters at adaptation. The Emporers would be in that group. Other penguins that migrate to the continent from other places, mainly South America, are not doing very well, they are finding now their "timing" is off because the conditions they normally arrive in are no longer the same. Therefore global warming is good (for the moment) for one type of penguin, not the others. I am sure the studies will continue. These birds are the canaries in the cave for mankind.
is they good eatin?
Lyle Lovett can rest easy tonight.
From space, MSNBC seems relevant.
wonderful, but stop and think about the ice would be 40 foot deeper if not for the weather warming.
Bad news is global warming has eliminated some groups... wonder how many? 50 or 60 total? Do the offset is 298000 more to 60 less?
I can't help but laugh when I see the last picture because it reminds me of that episode of Futurama where Bender leads the great Penguin uprising by teaching them how to use guns.
Did the population double, or did the counting just become more accurate? This is a difficult matter for scientists, because if they admit the population doubled, then that means conditions are improving and there's no need to create new laws protecting the growing population from nonexistent threats; but if the counting became more accurate there is the risk that many of the 'threatened' and 'endangered' species have also been undercounted, and the need to protect them no longer exists. Either way, the need to fund scientific studies becomes questionable, as does their livelihood.
hey dumbass! polar bears do not eat penguins! they would if they could but they can't! polar bears up here...... penguins down there!