{"id":1198,"date":"2026-08-14T01:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T16:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/?post_type=briefing&p=1198"},"modified":"2026-08-14T01:46:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T16:46:59","slug":"2026-08-14-penguin-pink-guano-diet-en","status":"publish","type":"briefing","link":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/briefing\/2026-08-14-penguin-pink-guano-diet-en\/","title":{"rendered":"Satellite view of Antarctica’s pink blobs reveals what penguins ate"},"content":{"rendered":"

2026-08-14 01:45 KST<\/strong><\/p>\n

Researchers used satellite analysis of pink fecal stains on the Antarctic coast to track whether Ad\u00e9lie penguins ate more krill or fish.<\/p>\n

The satellite did not directly see a single penguin eating, but the results were based on colony-level color signals calibrated with field samples.<\/p>\n

Why is excrement pink?<\/h2>\n

When Adelie penguins eat a lot of krill, their excrement turns pink or orange due to the red pigment in the krill. The higher the proportion of fish, the different the color characteristics. Large rookeries leave wide stains on rock surfaces, so color differences can be seen in Landsat satellite imagery along the treeless Antarctic coast.<\/p>\n

How did you change your diet?<\/h2>\n

The researchers located breeding sites, collected fecal samples, and confirmed the composition of the diet using stable isotope analysis. The results were linked to the reflection characteristics of each wavelength of light measured by the satellite. Then, using a statistical model, we reconstructed changes in the diet of over 100 communities around Antarctica from 1984 to 2013.<\/p>\n

\"Satellite
This is a generated image created to illustrate a topic and is not a photo of an actual scene or observation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How are sea ice and food connected?<\/h2>\n

In the Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica, where there is little sea ice, the proportion of krill tended to be high. In East Antarctica, where the ice was larger, the proportion of fish was high. Even the same colony changed its diet as ice conditions changed from year to year. This shows that changes in ice can be transmitted through the food web to predators.<\/p>\n

Is it always better to have a lot of fish?<\/h2>\n

Studies have shown that fish-centric diets tend to be linked to long-term population trends and healthier offspring growth. However, color alone cannot determine the future of a population. Other factors also come into play, including fishing, predators, breeding site conditions and weather.<\/p>\n

What are the limitations and next steps of the study?<\/h2>\n

The analysis period extends to 2013 and does not directly include recent record-breaking Antarctic sea ice declines. The researchers plan to continue tracking with Landsat 8\u00b79 data. Satellite color analysis has the advantage of being able to repeatedly observe the entire inaccessible Antarctic, but it is not a substitute for field verification.<\/p>\n

official source material<\/h2>\n

NASA Earth Observatory<\/a><\/p>\n

Current Biology study<\/a><\/p>\n

PubMed record<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By analyzing the color of Adelie penguins’ excrement using satellite, they were able to reconstruct changes in their diet over the past 30 years. The pink color indicates a diet with a high proportion of krill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":[],"class_list":["post-1198","briefing","type-briefing","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/briefing\/1198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/briefing"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/briefing"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}