Antarctic penguins expel so much laughing gas that it has a fun effect on researchers

Antarctic royal penguins They emit such abundant amounts of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, through their feces that researchers have become a "cuckoo clock" by studying them, according to a Danish scientific study released Thursday.

"The guano penguin produces significantly high levels of Nitrous oxide around their colonies, "said study director Professor Bo Elberling of the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resources Management at the University of Copenhagen.

While studying king penguin colonies on the Atlantic island of South Georgia between South America and Antarctica, "the researchers were no longer surrounded by 39; penguin droppings, "he said.

Besides being a stress for time, nitrous oxide has an effect very similar to the sedative gas of laughter used by the dentist.

"After sniffing in guano for several hours, you go completely crazy. You start to feel sick and have a headache," said Elberling.

Nitrous oxide is 300 times more polluting to the environment as carbon dioxide.

Nitrous oxide is explained by the diet of krill and fish penguins, which contain high levels of nitrogen.

The feces of penguins release nitrogen into the soil and bacteria from the soil, and then convert it to nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas.

"Although the nitrous oxide emissions in this case are not enough to affect the Earth's global energy budget, our results contribute to a new insight into how penguin colonies affect the environment around them, which is interesting because the settlements generally become more generalized, "said Elberling.

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