WASHINGTON: Scientists have came upon a in the past unknown "supercolony" of more than 15,00,000 Adelie Penguins in the Danger Islands, a sequence of remote, rocky islands off of the Antarctic Peninsula's northern tip.
For the previous 40 years, the full choice of Adelie Penguins, one of the vital commonplace on the Antarctic Peninsula, has been ceaselessly declining - or so biologists have concept.
The find out about led via researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in the US, provides new insights on of this species of penguin.
"Until recently, the Danger Islands weren't known to be an important penguin habitat," stated Heather Lynch, associate professor at Stony Brook University in the US.
These supercolonies have long past undetected for many years, in part as a result of the remoteness of the islands themselves, and in part the treacherous waters that encompass them.
Even in the austral summer, the within sight ocean is full of thick sea ice, making it extremely difficult to get admission to.
Yet in 2014, Lynch and colleague Mathew Schwaller from NASA came upon telltale guano stains in current NASA satellite imagery of the islands, hinting at a mysteriously massive choice of penguins.
Researchers organized an expedition to the islands with the goal of counting the birds firsthand.
When the group arrived in December 2015, they discovered masses of thousands of birds nesting in the rocky soil, and in an instant started to tally up their numbers via hand.
The crew also used a changed business quadcopter drone to take images of the entire island from above.
"The drone lets you fly in a grid over the island, taking pictures once per second. You can then stitch them together into a huge collage that shows the entire landmass in 2D and 3D," stated Hanumant Singh, professor at Northeastern University, who advanced the drone's imaging and navigation gadget
Once those huge images are to be had, the crew can use neural community device to analyse them, pixel via pixel, in search of penguin nests autonomously.
"Not only do the Danger Islands hold the largest population of Adelie penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula, they also appear to have not suffered the population declines found along the western side of Antarctic Peninsula that are associated with recent climate change," stated Michael Polito, from Louisiana State University in the US.
For the previous 40 years, the full choice of Adelie Penguins, one of the vital commonplace on the Antarctic Peninsula, has been ceaselessly declining - or so biologists have concept.
The find out about led via researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in the US, provides new insights on of this species of penguin.
"Until recently, the Danger Islands weren't known to be an important penguin habitat," stated Heather Lynch, associate professor at Stony Brook University in the US.
These supercolonies have long past undetected for many years, in part as a result of the remoteness of the islands themselves, and in part the treacherous waters that encompass them.
Even in the austral summer, the within sight ocean is full of thick sea ice, making it extremely difficult to get admission to.
Yet in 2014, Lynch and colleague Mathew Schwaller from NASA came upon telltale guano stains in current NASA satellite imagery of the islands, hinting at a mysteriously massive choice of penguins.
Researchers organized an expedition to the islands with the goal of counting the birds firsthand.
When the group arrived in December 2015, they discovered masses of thousands of birds nesting in the rocky soil, and in an instant started to tally up their numbers via hand.
The crew also used a changed business quadcopter drone to take images of the entire island from above.
"The drone lets you fly in a grid over the island, taking pictures once per second. You can then stitch them together into a huge collage that shows the entire landmass in 2D and 3D," stated Hanumant Singh, professor at Northeastern University, who advanced the drone's imaging and navigation gadget
Once those huge images are to be had, the crew can use neural community device to analyse them, pixel via pixel, in search of penguin nests autonomously.
"Not only do the Danger Islands hold the largest population of Adelie penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula, they also appear to have not suffered the population declines found along the western side of Antarctic Peninsula that are associated with recent climate change," stated Michael Polito, from Louisiana State University in the US.
Supercolony of over 1.5 million penguins discovered
![Supercolony of over 1.5 million penguins discovered]()
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March 04, 2018
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