Scientists have turned to drones to speed up the counting process undertaken to track Antarctic penguins’ numbers. The drones have cut down the counting time from two full days to just three hours, amazing!
A group of researchers has discovered one of the largest colonies of Adélie penguins on the Danger Islands of Antarctica. This ‘super-colony’ is believed to consist out of 751,527 breeding pairs of Adélie penguins. How would one count such a large group of animals? Well, with the help of drones and neural network software.
Antarctica has to be one of the least human-friendly places on earth, one could visit in terms of weather conditions, yet last week it was the scene of some amazing feats, including the fastest Antarctic mile ever run, as well as the Antarctic Ice Marathon and 100k(!) race events. The event has been documented partly by drone in the amazing video you can see below. The scenery at the Union Glacier in Antarctica, just 650 miles from the South Pole, is amazingly beautiful and the drone footage is very cinematic.
Grab a coffee and enjoy watching this short movie.