Penguin Poo Tracked from Space

I just read a rather interesting article about penguin poo research. The Australian Antarctic Division is using a satellite to see penguin poo to find out more about Adelie penguin population numbers. Adelie penguins tend to breed in the same spots and on rocks, so the poo accumulates and is hard to tell differently from year to year on the ground.

Using satellites to see the poo researchers can give them a larger view of where the penguins live including sites that they cannot usually reach in person. The images can be compared year to year to see how the penguins are being affected by climate change. The satellites are also cheaper than doing the extensive in the field population counts, which cannot always even be carried out due to the harsh conditions of Antarctica.

Source: "Penguin poo gives clues from space" on australiangeographic.com