The first census of penguins at the South Pole has found nearly 600,000 - twice the number thought to be there.
Using state-of-the-art satellite imagery, scientists found 44 colonies of emperor penguins.
Seven colonies were previously unknown, and many of the known ones were bigger than expected.
In the past, it was notoriously difficult to estimate their numbers as they live in temperatures of -50c, and some colonies are in the most remote parts of the Antarctic sea ice.
The British Antarctic Survey hopes that having an accurate number - thought to be 595,000 compared with previous estimates of 270,000-350,000 - will help manage conservation and track climate change.
- Daily Mail
