Scientists photograph the largest penguin colony in the world (photo)
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have conducted aerial photography of the uninhabited volcanic island of the Zavadov Archipelago in the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. The goal was to study the largest penguin colony, numbering more than a million individuals.
A group of six scientists arrived on the remote 25-square-kilometer island in early December 2023 to monitor the penguin population. The researchers took pictures from drones and collected the birds’ guano.
If the new photos prove to be a good way to monitor terrestrial biodiversity, they could be used to track colonies in the future. This will reduce the need for risky and expensive expeditions to the island, which is 2,000 kilometers from the Falkland Islands and takes a week to reach.
“We know that Zavadovsky Island has unique biodiversity and is an important place for penguins, but our scientific data is incredibly limited. This project is a collaborative effort to gain baseline data on the island and reliable methods for monitoring it in the future so that informed decisions can be made about how to manage and protect the local species,” said Norman Ratcliffe, British Antarctic Survey ecologist and project leader.
