Project Penguin

Manly, on Sydney's Northern Beaches, is home to a colony of Little Penguins who are counting on Junior Landcarers to help them survive. Once a thriving colony of hundreds, the population of has been reduced to just 60 pairs of birds and is in danger of become extinct altogether.

Threats to the colony include dog attacks, boating accidents, oil spills and disturbances to nest sites and habitat, due to this colony residing in an urban environment.

About Project Penguin

Through Project Penguin, Northern Beaches Primary and High school students are taught how to help protect the local Little Penguin colonies and the coastal environment that is vital to the species’ survival. Students learn about Little Penguin breeding, rehabilitation and release at Taronga’s Wildlife Hospital, as well as how to tell the community what the Penguins need and how to do a beach audit for the best habitat and caring for coastal bushland.

Over 800 students from 7 primary and 3 high schools took part in the 2009 program. Students embarked on a ten week learning journey where they discovered first hand from local experts, about the plight of the Little Penguins and how they could help them. They were then challenged in a competition to produce a community awareness campaign for the penguin colony, which were showcased at an ‘expo’ day held at Taronga Zoo. The projects were also displayed within the Zoo and at several community environmental events.

Project Penguin is run by Taronga Zoo's Education Department and is supported by Coastcare (a part of the Landcare Australia family).

About Little Penguins

The Little Penguin, also known as the Blue or Fairy Penguin, is the only penguin native to Australia.

Although once fairly common in the Sydney area, numbers have diminished through a combination of reasons including coastal development, pollution, the presence of more people and attacks by domestic pets.

The hardy little birds were once very common in Sydney and can still occasionally be glimpsed in the Harbour but shoreside development and domestic pets have driven most colonies away from metropolitan Sydney and its beaches.

 Little Penguins range around the southern Australian coast, including Bass Strait and Tasmania, and are found as far north as Port Macquarie. They are great swimmers with young birds found to have made journeys of over 1200 km.

These aquatic acrobats spend most of the daylight hours at sea, fishing, returning to their burrows at dusk, except when moulting prevents them going to sea. They are capable of climbing steep, rocky ground to reach their burrows.

As recently as 20 years ago, Taronga Zoo received calls from Northern Beaches residents about the birds’ cries which were loud and sounded unearthly as they set off for the ocean in the pre-dawn gloom.

Taronga Zoo’s Wildlife Hospital annually treats about 40 Little Penguins brought in by the community suffering from malnutrition and injuries. Most are successfully rehabilitated.

Things You Can Do at the Beach to Help Little Penguins

• Keep dogs on leashes
• Don’t discard rubbish
• Don’t throw away tangled fishing lines which can snare penguins
• Do protect beach trees and plants