Who killed the penguins? Thousands of years of poop point to a volcano
Volcanic eruptions have been big penguin killers in the Antarctic over the past several thousand years, according to a new study that used penguin poop to track population booms and busts in the region.
Gentoo penguins, which weigh 12 pounds and stand almost three feet high, are well known for the prodigious quantities of poop they produce. In fact, they even spread their feces across their breeding sites — making massive skidmarks on the icy Antarctic landscape that help scientists count the inhabitants of penguin colonies from space. Now, scientists have discovered another new and creative way to use penguin poop to count the filthy birds. In this latest study, published today in the journal Nature Communications, researchers led by…
