Emperor penguin population seems to be adapting their mating and migration habits as global warming is intensifying.

In the 1970s, the documentary, March of the Penguins, painted a very pessimistic picture for Antarctica's Pointe Géologie emperor penguins. The documentary showed the population of these penguins has declined significantly.

Scientists considered that due to rising ocean temperatures and melting ice, many penguins got killed. But the new research found that members of the colony have joined other groups. They were able to do so through satellite imagery.

With the use of satellite imagery, researchers were able to notice the stains of the species' dark fecal droppings against the sparking snow and ice. "They are the only species living on the very white ice and they leave a very brown stain -- it's pretty obvious", said Michelle LaRue, researcher at the Polar Geospatial Center at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Researchers found that there are many other colonies that are closer to Pointe Géologie colony. The finding led researchers to assume that penguins must be leaving one colony to become part of another one. They are doing it as a result of warming temperatures.

Penguins are considered to be philopatric meaning that they meet every day at one spot to mate. But due to global warming, LaRue suggests that they may be abandoning this feature of them for new mating partner and new territory.

In three years, researchers came across six instanceswhere emperor penguins did not return to the same location to breed.

Study researchers said if they really want to conserve the population then there is a need to know more about them. Research findings were present at IDEACITY conference in Toronto last week.