How an adorable baby penguin is being hand raised after struggling to survive on its own
- A penguin at Perth Zoo is being hand raised by zoo keeper Nicole Longhi
- The bird was taken from Penguin Island as an egg for a breeding program
- The little penguin is being fed fish smoothies and cared for at home
A
little penguin is thriving on fish smoothies at Perth Zoo where it's
being hand raised by a keeper after arriving from a remote West
Australian island.
The furry bird was plucked from Penguin Island as an egg before being taken to Perth Zoo as part of its breeding program.
Perth
Zoo's senior Australian fauna keeper Nicole Longhi had to step in as
mum when the penguin began to struggle to survive shortly after it
hatched in November.
A little penguin is thriving on fish
smoothies at Perth Zoo where it's being hand raised by a keeper after
arriving from a West Australian island
The bird was plucked from Penguin Island as an egg before being taken to Perth Zoo as part of its breeding program
Ms
Longhi said she took the chick home in a temperature-controlled box
each evening and made the special smoothies for the little penguin.
'Hand
raising any animal is a huge undertaking, it is a 24-7 job. But after
almost four weeks in care it's tipping the scales past 500g and is
healthy and robust,' she said.
The
breeding program is run in conjunction with the Department of Parks and
Wildlife in order to arrest the decline of little penguins in the wild.
A DNA test will soon be carried out on the young penguin to determine its sex.
Perth Zoo's senior Australian fauna
keeper Nicole Longhi had to step in as mum when the penguin began to
struggle to survive shortly after it hatched in November
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