Hand-reared penguin successfully integrated into local population off coast of Perth

By Katrin Long March 6, 2014

ABC Norook, the hand-reared penguin who has been successfully integrated into a wild colony.

A penguin chick has been successfully hand-raised and integrated into the local population on Penguin Island, off the coast of Perth

Hatching in November, Noorook was named after the Aboriginal word for egg.
Noorook's parents, Geri and Skip, showed no interest in him after birth, refusing to feed or shelter him.

Jane Dawson from the Penguin Island Discovery Centre says staff stepped in as the chick began to weaken. "Geri and Skip had hatched an egg before and the chick had died, so we felt this time we'd keep a close eye on them and we really didn't want to lose another chick," she said. "It's the first time we've actually had to hand-raise a captive-bred bird, and obviously we would prefer for the parents to have done the task, but we stepped in when it looked as if the chick was going to die."
Noorook was initially fed fish smoothies by staff every two hours. "He had a rocky start to life since hatching, but he is now flourishing," Ms Dawson said.

She says he is blending in nicely after being slowly introduced to other penguins.
"He's had hourly visits, hourly play dates with the other penguins for the last week or so and they're absolutely fine - in fact, they don't seem to notice there's a new penguin in there," she said. "They don't take too much notice at all."

Penguin Island is home to more than 400 breeding pairs of little penguins, the world's smallest penguin species.

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