Using "poop" penguins are melting the snow

On April 25, 2015, "World Penguin Day", the citizen science project "Penguin Watch"Revealed the unknown ecology of penguins as a result of a yearly survey.

Secret life of penguins revealed for World Penguin Day | University of Oxford
http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2015-04-25-secret-life-penguins-revealed-world-penguin-day

"Penguin Watch" established in 2014 is operated mainly by scientists at Oxford University. The project isAustralia Antarctica territoryWe set up a remote camera for survey near the settlement of about 100 penguins in U.S. we uploaded the photo of the penguin we shot online so that anyone can access it.

Survey up to now can only be done with GPS, but with the introduction of cameras, surveys can be done without touching the penguin, and also by collecting information from many places at the same time by filming together, comparison of places is also possible It is now possible to do. Pictures of over 175,000 tags tagged that online volunteers "are acting strange", "behaving amazingly" and "Penguin's winter life" "Weather And how human activities are influencing the penguin's raising children "" Why is the number of certain kinds of penguins diminished in one settlement and why other kinds of penguins are prospering? " It was done.

Under such circumstances it is understood that "only the penguin settlement melts the snow quickly". In the following movies,Gentoo penguinIt shot the settlement of the settlement.

Penguins use poo to melt snow - YouTube


In snowy place, the penguins forming the group.


Four days later, the feet at the feet where the penguins gathered became brown.


When time passes for nearly a month, snow remains except for the settlement but black colored rocks are visible in the settlement.


This is a penguin gathering in a different place from the previous one.


Only about 6 hours passed in this place, the snow melted and the range where rocky skin could be seen increased.


The reason why the penguin foot snow melts faster than elsewhere is because of the "guanoBecause what is called melting snow. Because guano is black, it absorbs light well and the temperature rises, so it is possible to dissolve snow faster than other places. The penguins gather and form a group is the action for breeding penguins.

In the future, if we want to make clear the camera, such as "the frequency with which the penguin feeds the child" and "the time when the parent penguin is in the sea to feed the child for each different area," the chief research officer of zoology University zoology Tom is talking.