Hey, we all make mistakes. The key is how you recover from them. 
 
 Antarctic scientists wildly underestimated the number of Adélie penguins in just one part of Antarctica by, oh, a paltry 3.6 million or so. But the good news is they're back on track now, and are well on the way to a better understanding of the birds. 
 
 Adélies were named after the wife of an 1840s French explorer. Unlike most other penguin species, they live only on the frozen continent and nearby small islands. But how many of them are there? 
 
 You squawkin' to me? 
 
 Well, scientists now believe there are 5.9 million penguins on a 5,000 km stretch of coastline in east Antarctica alone. Extrapolating from that, their best guess is 14 to 16 million birds in the whole of Antarctica. 
 
 Previous estimates had the east Antarctic population at closer to 2.3 million. So how did a team of French, Japanese and Australian scientists suddenly find an extra 3.6 million flipper flappers? 
 
 Australian Antarctic Division seabird ecologist Dr Louise Emmerson had the answer to that on Wednesday. 
 
 "The reason it's higher is we have incorporated the non-breeding component of the population," she said. 
 
 "The non-breeders are essentially an invisible component of the population. The breeders are very well behaved. They come to the islands and sit around on eggs and we can count them easily. But these non-breeders are foraging out in the water where we can't see them. They may visit from time to time but they are essentially invisible to us." 
 
 Have you got any regurgitated chips to go with that, mum? 
 
 Using a pretty nifty combination of aerial surveillance and a range of land-based counting methods, scientists were at last able to compile a comprehensive survey of these avian tiny tuxedoes. You might say that where these Adélies are concerned, at long last the scientists could have had it all. 
 
 The research also estimated the amount of food needed to support the Adélie penguin population. Adélies eat small fish, jellyfish and krill -- the tiny crustaceans which are a key element of the Antarctic food chain. 
 
 Anyone smell something a bit fishy? 
 
 "An estimated 193,500 tonnes of krill and 18,800 tonnes of fish are eaten during the breeding season by Adélie penguins breeding in East Antarctica," Dr Emmerson said. 
 
 The dietary information will be used by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources to set sustainable krill fishery catch limits. 
 
 But how did scientists survey what the penguins eat? 
 
 Ah, well a key element of collecting the data was examining penguin poo. So next time you think you're having a bad afternoon, remember that you could be standing around in minus 10 closely examining penguin faeces. 
 
 ALSO ON HUFFPOST AUSTRALIA ||||| Adelie penguins, slick and efficient swimmers, live on the Antarctic continent and on many small, surrounding coastal islands Almost six million Adelie penguins are living in East Antarctica, more than double the number previously thought, scientists said Wednesday in findings that have implications for conservation. 
 
 Research by an Australian, French and Japanese team used aerial and ground surveys, tagging and resighting data and automated camera images over several breeding seasons, which allowed them to come up with the new figure. 
 
 They focused on a 5,000 kilometre (3,100 mile) stretch of coastline, estimating it was home to 5.9 million birds—some 3.6 million more than previously thought. On this basis, they estimate a likely global population of 14 to 16 million. 
 
 Before, population estimates only took into account breeding pairs, said Australian Antarctic Division seabird ecologist Louise Emmerson. 
 
 "Non-breeding birds are harder to count because they are out foraging at sea, rather than nesting in colonies on land," she said. 
 
 "However, our study in East Antarctica has shown that non-breeding Adelie penguins may be as, or more, abundant than the breeders. 
 
 "These birds are an important reservoir of future breeders and estimating their numbers ensures we better understand the entire population's foraging needs." 
 
 Adelie penguins, slick and efficient swimmers, live on the Antarctic continent and on many small, surrounding coastal islands. They spend the winter offshore in the seas surrounding the pack ice. 
 
 Seabird ecologist Colin Southwell said the research had implications for conservation, with more birds potentially interacting with humans in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean than previously thought. 
 
 He said the rocky, ice-free areas preferred by penguins for nesting were also favoured by research stations due to ease of resupply. 
 
 "There are currently nine permanently occupied research stations in the ice-free areas of East Antarctica and we found over one million birds breed within 10 kilometres of a station," he said. 
 
 "By identifying significant penguin breeding populations near stations we can better identify which areas may need enhanced protection into the future." 
 
 The study also estimated the amount of krill and fish needed to support the Adelie penguin population, prey that is also sought after by seals and whales. 
 
 "An estimated 193,500 tonnes of krill and 18,800 tonnes of fish are eaten during the breeding season by Adelie penguins breeding in East Antarctica," Emmerson said. 
 
 This information will now be used by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources to set sustainable krill fishery catch limits. 
 
 Explore further: Adelie penguin numbers may expand as glaciers retreat ||||| OSLO, Global warming will cut Antarctica's 600,000-strong emperor penguin population by at least a fifth by 2100 as the sea ice on which the birds breed becomes less secure, a study said on Sunday. 
 
 The report urged governments to list the birds as endangered, even though populations in 45 known colonies were likely to rise slightly by 2050 before declining. Such a listing could impose restrictions on tourism and fishing companies. 
 
 The study is the first to project the long-term outlook for Antarctica's largest penguins, which can grow 1.2 meters (four ft) tall, seeking to fill a gap in understanding climate change and wildlife in one of the remotest parts of the planet. 
 
 Overall, numbers were set to fall by at least 19 percent from current levels by 2100 as sea ice melts. And two-thirds of colonies of the birds, which have distinctive golden head patches, would decline by more than half, it said. 
 
 "It's not happy news for the emperor penguin," said Hal Castellan of the U.S. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a co-author of the study in the journal Nature Climate Change. 
 
 Populations of most of 18 types of penguins are decreasing, according to a Red List run by conservation experts. Emperors are one of three species rated stable, with around 600,000 birds. Only king, adelie and chinstrap penguins are increasing. 
 
 The impact of climate change on penguins gets less attention than the effect on polar bears, which are often portrayed by scientists as victims of man-made warming and shrinking ice at the other end of the planet. 
 
 Despite rising global temperatures, sea ice around Antarctica has expanded in recent winters. 
 
 More sea ice around a continent the size of the United States and Mexico combined tends to mean more shrimp-like krill, on which penguins feed. Krill eat algae that grow under ice. 
 
 FROZEN HUDDLE 
 
 But emperor penguins, which breed on sea ice with the males huddling together to keep eggs warm in winter darkness and temperatures down to minus 50 degrees Celsius (minus 58 Fahrenheit), are vulnerable to shifting sea ice. 
 
 "There is a goldilocks point for ice and emperor penguins," said Phil Trathan, an expert at the British Antarctic Survey. 
 
 Too much ice means the females, which can travel 100 kms (60 miles) to the sea to catch fish, must waddle ever further. Too little ice means waves could break up colonies in spring. 
 
 Trathan said it was unclear if the ungainly birds could adapt by climbing onto land or higher ice. Four emperor penguin colonies had recently been found on ice shelves, above sea level where glaciers spill off the land. 
 
 Environmentalists urged governments to agree proposed marine reserves in the Ross Sea and off East Antarctica - so far opposed by Russia - to safeguard wildlife. 
 
 "Marine reserves are one of the best ways to protect penguins," said Andrea Kavanagh, of the Pew Charitable Trusts. 
 
 Satellite images have made it easier to estimate emperor populations, especially a discovery in 2009 that droppings from their colonies leave stains visible from space. 
 
 "We have an excellent baseline for emperor penguins," said Ron Naveen, a penguin expert at U.S.-based non-profit group Oceanites. He said other penguins, which breed on land, are far harder to spot by satellite amid rocks and shifting snows. 
 
 For the study, click: here
– In a rare bit of good news in the animal conservation world, scientists say they vastly lowballed the penguin population on Antarctica. The off-base estimate pertains to Adelie penguins—that's the adorable Happy Feet variety—and it turns out there are 3.6 million more of them than previously thought, reports the Huffington Post Australia. A team of Australian, Japanese, and French scientists now think there are 5.9 million of these birds occupying a 3,100-mile stretch of east Antarctica. From that projection, they pegged the total Adelie penguin population on the continent at 14 million to 16 million. The Adelies, named after the wife of the French explorer who discovered them in 1840, are only found on Antarctica and its islands. So why did their number take such a leap? "The reason it's higher is we have incorporated the non-breeding component of the population," says Aussie ecologist Dr. Louise Emmerson. What that means is that while the breeding birds migrate to the island to do the deed and then sit on eggs, making them easy to count, non-breeders are "off foraging out in the water where we can't see them," she says. It turns out the non-breeders were more numerous. How did the experts revise their count? They used aerial surveillance and land-based counting methods, and they studied penguin droppings to ballpark the amount of food the tuxedoed ones consume: an estimated 213,000 tons of krill and 21,000 tons of fish during the breeding season, per the AFP. The findings could help inform conservation efforts for marine and land animals, per the Australian. (What happened to 150K missing penguins?)