A STUDY GUIDE by Katy Marriner and 360 Degree Films
http://www.metromagazine.com.au
http://www.360degreefilms.com.au he world-famous Little Penguins of Australia’s Over six half-hour episodes, Penguin Island follows the Phillip Island entertain half a million tourists a year penguins as a dedicated team of rangers and scientists Twith a sunset parade from the surf to their burrows. monitor and protect them through the breeding season and But behind the scenes, the penguins’ lives are even more a record-breaking heatwave. interesting. Filmed over a year by series producer Sally Ingleton, Penguin Island opens in the Australian spring as 26,000 director Simon Target and wildlife cinematographer David Little Penguins return to their Phillip Island colony after Parer, Penguin Island offers an insight into the lives of the many weeks at sea. While some search for loyal partners stars of Phillip Island’s internationally renowned Penguin and others seek out a new mate, the Little Penguins set Parade. to work building and renovating their nests to keep them safe from predators. Soon the colony is full of chicks, and This study guide to accompany Penguin Island has been penguin parents take turns to babysit while their partner written for upper primary students and for secondary goes to sea to feed. With only eight short weeks before the students of all year levels. At the secondary level, the study chicks must learn to survive for themselves, it is a fraught guide provides information and suggestions for learning and time-consuming business. When the fish disappear activities in Biology, Environmental Studies, Geography, from the waters around Phillip Island, life in the colony gets Media and Science. At a primary level the study guide tough and the battle for survival begins. To make matters provides information and suggestions for learning activities worse, Phillip Island is experiencing the hottest summer on across the curriculum areas of English, SOSE/HSIE and record and the rangers and carers must rescue penguins all Science. across the colony. SCREEN EDUCATION
2 Episode guide protection zone – the first time in the world that human settlement has been removed in order to protect a single Episode one: Love is in the air species.
In episode one of Penguin Island, we meet Bluey and Sheila, We meet research manager Peter Dann, a world-renowned one of the many Little Penguin couples who live on Phillip leader in the study of Little Penguins. He leads the scientific Island, and the dedicated team of rangers and scientists effort to study and protect the Little Penguins on Phillip who will monitor and protect them through the hottest Island. We visit Phillip Island’s wildlife hospital where Marg summer on record. Healy is working to save a Little Penguin whose life has been threatened by a careless fisherman. Marg runs Phillip Island Nature Park’s wildlife hospital and has over twenty years of experience with Little Penguins Rocky continues his search for Mrs Right and loses out to and other animals. Field researcher Leanne Renwick weighs an amorous neighbour, and hungry Sammy and Tom beg and examines the penguins to ensure they are up to the task from the wrong neighbour with disastrous consequences, of breeding. Her colleague Elizabeth Lundahl-Hegedus is a until Bluey returns to save the day. parade ranger and has lived on the Summerland Estate for thirty years. It’s a short walk from her house to the Penguin Episode three: Where have all the fish gone? Parade. In episode three of Penguin Island, time is running out for We meet the feathered residents of the Penguin Café, a hungry penguin chicks Sammy and Tom, whose parents cluster of ‘love nests’ behind the busy Phillip Island tourist Bluey and Sheila must swim further to sea in a desperate centre where perennial bachelor Rocky and the determined attempt to find fish. As the weather heats up, chicks are yet slightly dim-witted Spike vie for the attention of the dying of starvation throughout the colony and the harshness passing females as they attempt to attract a mate. of nature is revealed.
Meanwhile, Bluey and Sheila lay their first clutch of eggs. Ranger Elizabeth Lundahl-Hegedus keeps watch over the While Sheila is off at sea hunting for food, the eggs hatch undernourished chicks, worried that they won’t survive until and Bluey must guard them until Sheila comes home. their parents return to feed them, while another ranger, John Evans, patrols the colony, checking for offshore bait balls Episode two: Danger in the penguin colony of fish, a sign that food is nearby and the parents will soon return. In episode two of Penguin Island, Bluey and Sheila are struggling to feed their hungry chicks, Sammy and Tom, and In the burrow next door to Sammy and Tom, penguin to protect them from predatory gulls, domestic pets and a parents Frank and Flora struggle to feed their boisterous feral fox that is stalking the colony. teenagers, Butch and Bruiser. Scientists monitoring Phillip SCREEN EDUCATION Island’s penguins fit a satellite tracking device to Frank’s As the rangers set out to hunt the fox, we meet the back and are surprised to find that the plucky little penguin human residents of Phillip Island whose homes have been covers 240 kilometres in four days as the fish move further reclaimed by the government to make way for a penguin afield.
3 SCREEN EDUCATION 4 Eudyptula Eudyptula , Rocky and Jess’ Jess’ and Rocky , Penguin Island Penguin means ‘good little diver’) and usually feed in waters waters in feed usually and diver’) little ‘good means Little Penguins Little a have They fly. cannot that seabirds are Penguins Little They time. a at two land, on eggs lay and feathers beak, in flap they that flippers called wings designed specially have swim can They underwater. swimming when motion flying a their use they and feet webbed their with humans than faster rudders. as tail and legs body the over spread and small are feathers Penguin Little spent is time Much birds. flying of density the times four at large A waterproof. them keep to feathers oiling and preening substance waxy a secretes tail the of base the at gland oil its onto spreads and beak its onto smears penguin the that upper blue dark of colouring Penguin’s Little The plumage. camouflage excellent an make underside white and side prey. and predator both against name Latin (their divers shallow are Penguins Little minor seventy to up of dives although deep metres fifty than less 700 of average an make They recorded. been have metres four to three from is speed swimming Their day. per dives for sea at stay can Penguin Little A hour. per kilometres the on floats it as dozing sea, at sleep even will It weeks. surface. years. seven is Penguin Little the for lifespan average The living Penguins Little of cases recorded been have there But age. of years twenty-six to Episode six: Summer ends on Phillip Island Summer ends six: Episode of episode final the In herself feed to enough big yet not is Tilda chick surviving time But parents. her of return the awaiting anxiously is and moult. to begin island the around penguins as out running is leaving mother, her by abandoned is Tilda Unfortunately her. feed to father her only consequences disastrous means tanker oil leaking a sea At how demonstrates Healy Marg and Penguins, Little the for from penguins the prevent to help jumpers knitted tiny fuel. toxic ingesting the and Chiaradia Andre Parade, Penguin the at Down automatic an road-testing are Island Phillip of scientists Penguins Little the weighs accurately which weighbridge, contact. human without nearly is Estate Summerland on project removal house The Lundahl- Elizabeth and family Wagner the with complete, be can land the so colony the vacate to ready Hegedus Penguins. Little the to returned at alone life new a brave to but choice no has Tilda Little food, for hunt or swim to how her teach to one no With sea. sharks, the surviving of chance cent per 20 a just has Tilda currents. ocean treacherous and tankers gulls, - , a punishing heatwave hits hits heatwave punishing a , , unlucky-in-love Rocky Rocky unlucky-in-love , Penguin Island Penguin Penguin Island Penguin Episode five: Rocky finds love at last Episode five: of five episode In to begin Penguins Little the arrives, season moulting When on wait must they grumpy, and Hungry feathers. their shed waterproof, are they so grow feathers new their until shore fish. to sea the to return to able and weatherproof Jess endures a parasite infestation as she waits patiently patiently waits she as infestation parasite a endures Jess to return to Rocky for desperate chicks, newborn her with surviv sole their save to time in just arrives He them. feed yet patient difficult most her gets Healy Marg Meanwhile, beach the on found is Gannet Australasian juvenile a when eating in than her biting in interested more proves and Chiaradia Andre Biologist alive. him keep will that fish the by underwater, to up get Penguins Little what just reveals unwitting an to device logging computerised tiny a attaching Penguin. Little finally finds a mate in Jess, whose previous clutch of chicks chicks of clutch previous whose Jess, in mate a finds finally raising be to season the in late very is it But died. has moult annual Penguins’ Little the before right being chicks, sea. to going them prevents Tash’s and Spike door, next burrow the In Tilda. chick, ing own. their on off head to preparing already are chicks In episode four of of four episode In for gone parents his and dead brother younger his With brave to Saturday Black survive must Sammy little good, towards steps tenuous first his taking alone, world the surf. breaking the beyond life a and independence Episode four: A heatwave hits the colony Episode four: are chicks penguin colony’s the supply, short in food With to out head to require they weight body the build to struggling the year, first their in die to destined cent per 80 with and, sea with arrives volunteer A survival. for fight the in high are stakes death, to close and underweight chick, penguin overheated an ones. lucky the of one be to proves Mauve but the island, bushfires are raging around the state and Little Little and state the around raging are bushfires island, the exhaustion. and hunger heat, from collapsing are Penguins rangers wildlife, overheated with fills hospital wildlife the As to battle a in Penguins Little the cool and rehydrate to work lives. their save The Little Penguins of Phillip Island
Bluey and Sheila Butch and Bruiser
Bluey and Sheila are long-term Butch and Bruiser, young siblings, are mates. Some penguin partners will creating havoc in the neighbourhood. stay together for years if they are Once they are a few weeks old, mum successful at rearing a family. This and dad leave them home alone while breeding season they will try to raise they go to scour the ocean to feed the a typical family of two chicks. Bluey hungry youngsters. Come nightfall, and Sheila share incubation and Butch and Bruiser will beg and attack babysitting duties. One stays at home any passing adult penguin, hoping with the eggs or chicks, while the other it’s their mum or dad coming home goes to sea to find fish. They depend with dinner. Some of the wiser adults upon each other and know they must in the vicinity don’t take too kindly to protect their young from predators the young upstarts and their bully-boy such as foxes and Pacific Gulls. tactics. Tilda Sammy and Tom Stan and Sparky Jess’ chick is called Tilda. She is born Sammy is a new chick, born early Stan and Sparky are chicks living late in the breeding season and has in the breeding season to Bluey and under Karen Wagner’s house on got a struggle ahead of her. When her Sheila. He is an adventurous fellow, the Summerland Estate. Like many sibling dies and she becomes an only and together with his little brother Tom teenagers they are hesitant to leave child, her chances of survival increase. explores his neighbourhood. Sammy home, preferring to keep sponging Her life depends on both her parents has a will to survive. off mum and dad. Their sibling rivalry feeding her regularly. creates havoc, and their peeping and Tom is the younger and weaker of the calling keeps the Wagners awake night Spike two and has to compete with Sammy after night. for food. Perennial bachelor Spike is Rocky’s Rocky and Jess neighbour and rival at the Penguin Frank and Flora Café. At two years of age, he’s a trifle Three-year-old Rocky is ready to start dim-witted and continually fussing over Frank is a mature penguin and lives a family. He’s built an A1 love nest and renovating his nest. He competes with his long-term mate Flora in a and needs someone to share it. While with Rocky for the attention of the natural burrow. Frank is a survivor and Rocky is a talented home decorator, passing females. Spike’s not as plump manages to swim far enough to find he is not so skilled at luring a female or handsome as some of the other food for his chicks. When he is chosen into his love nest. Early in the season, Penguin Café lads, but he’s in with a for satellite tagging, Frank also begins his heart is broken by a feisty young chance. helping scientists understand where female, but later in the season he Little Penguins go at sea. meets Jess. Tash
Flora has been with Frank for four years Jess’s first clutch of eggs died and Tash lost her chicks last year. She’s on now. Flora is devoted to Frank and often late in the season she is looking for a the lookout for a better match and is comes outside to farewell him as he new partner at the Penguin Café. She’s sizing up the lads at the Penguin Café. heads off to sea for the day. Together picky but wants to have another go at they are dedicated parents to their two rearing a family. Foot boisterous and hungry chicks Butch and Bruiser. Both parents spend the summer Found with a fishing line around travelling to and from the sea to make his swollen left foot, Foot’s limb is sure their chicks are getting the dying and he is in agony. He needs food that they need. emergency veterinary care and time to recover before heading back to sea. Mauve SCREEN EDUCATION
Mauve is heat stressed and dying in the sand. Thankfully he is rescued and rushed to the wildlife hospital, where he’s packed into the fridge to help him cool down and given fluid to rehydrate. 5 marg healy, Wildlife Rehabilitation Officer leanne renwick, Research Technical Officer andre chiaradia, Zoologist
Phillip Island The researchers Dr Andre Chiaradia – Nature Park and rangers Zoologist at Phillip Island Phillip Island Nature Park is located Dr Andre Chiaradia is a zoologist who on Phillip Island, a small island 140 Leanne Renwick – Research loves to use gadgets to find out more kilometres southeast of Melbourne, technical officer about the Little Penguin. There are Victoria. many questions about what the Little Leanne Renwick has worked on the Penguin gets up to out at sea and Phillip Island Nature Park is a not-for- frontline of Little Penguin research for Chiaradia has an arsenal of gear that he profit conservation organisation that the past sixteen years. She conducts employs to keep tabs on their marine cares for and manages much of Phillip fieldwork with complete precision, adventures. Island’s environment and wildlife. All monitoring and weighing penguins, profits generated by the organisation measuring their beaks, and keeping Elisabeth Lundahl-Hegedus – are reinvested into conservation, the satellite-tracked penguins under steady Park ranger environment and the local community. surveillance. Elizabeth Lundahl-Hegedus has lived In the early 1930s, Mr and Mrs Spencer Marg Healy – Wildlife and worked on Phillip Island for many Jackson donated ten acres to the rehabilitation officer years. She is a ranger at the Penguin people of Victoria. This land was the Parade, controlling excited crowds of home and breeding ground for Phillip Marg Healy is the Dr Doolittle of Pen- tourists while protecting her adorable Island’s colony of Little Penguins. In guin Island. Healy has worked with penguins. Her favourite job is telling 1996, the Victorian state government penguins for twenty-six years and her visitors about the Little Penguins. formed the Phillip Island Nature Park. knowledge of native animal care is Today, the Phillip Island Nature Park is extensive. John Evans – Park ranger regarded as a world-class eco-tourism attraction and covers 1,805 hectares of Dr Peter Dann – Research John Evans has worked for over Phillip Island. manager seventeen years at Phillip Island as a park ranger and has responsibility Phillip Island Nature Park encompasses Known to bird lovers around Australia for the protection of the nature park the Penguin Parade, the Nobbies as ‘Dr Penguin’ or ‘Penguin Pete’, Dr habitat, animal husbandry and pest Centre, Seal Rocks fauna reserve, Peter Dann is a world-renowned leader control for animals and plants. Trained the Koala Conservation Centre, Cape in the study of the Little Penguin. He in land management, Evans has the Woolamai State Fauna Reserve, has dedicated his life to the cause and understanding required to balance the Oswin Roberts Reserve, Ventnor Koala now leads a research group carrying out management of the long-term viability Reserve, Fishers Wetland, Rhyll and investigations of Phillip Island’s fauna. of the Little Penguins and their habitat Rowell’s swamps, Summerland Estate, with the needs of a public that can’t get SCREEN EDUCATION Newhaven Swamp, Rhyll Inlet and enough of the Little Penguins. Churchill Island Heritage Farm.
6 penguin parade, 1947. © Argus Collection
ferry across Western Port, stay in and introduced foxes killed many of guest houses in Cowes, then make the little seabirds. The Little Penguin their own way across the island population began to decline. A radical to Summerland Beach to catch a response was required to protect glimpse of the Fairy Penguins (as they the colony. In the 1960s, fences and were once known) by moon and torch viewing stands were built to prevent light. visitors standing on burrows. Since then, the construction of boardwalks, In the 1920s, entrepreneurial islander platforms and viewing boxes have residents Bert West, Bern Denham further protected the Little Penguins and Bert Watchorn started the first and their habitats. organised viewings of the penguins. They would meet visitors at the The Penguin Parade is open every day ferry, and five shillings would buy a of the year. The best time to visit is at personal tour of the island in a Willys- dusk. Knight sedan, with an extra shilling The Penguin Parade for strawberries and cream. Visitor numbers increased in the 1940s after Little Penguins who live in a colony the new bridge connected the island to return to their nests in small groups the mainland at San Remo. within an hour or so of darkness. Their return is preceded by groups of Tourists flocked to the island and penguins gathering beyond the surf holidaymakers built houses on areas where they may be heard calling to surrounding the penguin colony. each other. These groups are called More and more people travelled to rafts. For the Little Penguins, it is a see the penguins, carrying blankets case of safety in numbers. and picnic baskets down through the penguin colony to the beach, where For over eighty years, people have they sat on the sand and watched been travelling to Phillip Island to the penguins walk around them on SCREEN EDUCATION watch the nightly parade of Little their way back to their burrows. Penguins at Summerland Beach. Before the bridge to Phillip Island Gradually penguin habitats and was built, visitors would catch a burrows were damaged and dogs
7 PETER DANN, Research Manager
How well did you watch the episodes of Penguin Island? Episode one Episode two Episode three
This episode provides information This episode provides information This episode provides information about the breeding habits of Little about the predators of Little Pen- about the feeding habits of Little Penguins. guins and the ways their existence Penguins. on land and sea is threatened. Can you answer the following Can you answer the following questions about the breeding Can you answer the following questions about the feeding habits habits of Little Penguins? questions about the predators of Little Penguins? of Little Penguins? • In what season do Little Penguins • When and why do Little Penguins mate? • Why are Little Penguin chicks come home from sea? vulnerable to predators? • How many eggs does a female • What do Little Penguin chicks Little Penguin lay? • Why have the human inhabitants eat? been removed from the Summer- • How many days does it take for land Estate? • What is the mortality rate of Little a Little Penguin egg to hatch? Penguin chicks? • What dangers do Little Penguins • What is the birth weight of a face at sea? • What are bait balls? newborn Little Penguin? • What dangers do they face on • How far will Little Penguins swim • How do the roles of the male land? to find food? and female parents differ during incubation and feeding? • What services exist to protect the • How do the scientists find out Little Penguins of Phillip Island? where the penguins go when they • For how long is a Little Penguin are at sea? chick dependent on his or her parents? SCREEN EDUCATION
Left: Researchers place satellite tracker on penguin right: summerland beach, site of Penguin Parade 8 Episode four Episode five Episode six
This episode provides information This episode explains why Little This episode provides information about how a very hot summer Penguins moult. about how humans both endanger threatens the existence of the and protect the colony of Little colony of Little Penguins at Phillip Can you answer the following ques- Penguins at Phillip Island Nature Island Nature Park. tions about moulting? Park.
Can you answer the following ques- • How do Little Penguins condition Can you answer the following ques- tions about the impact of extreme their feathers? tions about how humans both endan- weather conditions on the colony of ger and protect the colony of Little Little Penguins at Phillip Island Nature • What is moulting? Penguins at Phillip Island Nature Park? Park? • Why do Little Penguins moult? • Who protects the Little Penguins? • Why do Little Penguins struggle to survive during heatwaves? • When do Little Penguins moult? • Why must the park rangers and scientists limit their contact with • How do Little Penguins reduce • Where do Little Penguins go the Little Penguins? their body temperature? to moult? • What is the purpose of the • How much does a Little Penguin • Will Little Penguins keep feeding weighbridge? chick need to weigh before it can their chicks once they start go to sea and beat the heat? to moult? • Why is photography banned at the Penguin Parade? SCREEN EDUCATION • What do Little Penguins drink? • Why is oil a danger to Little Pen- • What strategies do the park rang- guins? ers implement to help the Little Penguins survive a heatwave? • Why do chicks born late in the season seldom survive? 9 Phillip Island Have you ever visited Phillip Island Nature Park? Tell the class about your trip to Phillip Island. You might like to bring photographs or souvenirs to show the class.
Using Penguin Island in a primary school classroom
Teachers may select from the following a question about Little Penguins • As you watch Penguin Island, activities to support students’ viewing on another cardboard silhouette of gather facts about Little Penguins. and close analysis of Penguin Island. one. Pin your silhouettes to a class Create a table to help you organise In selecting activities, teachers should noticeboard. your notes. Use the following head- remain mindful of the learning needs ings for columns in your table: and abilities of individual students and After viewing of the class as a whole. - Physical characteristics • Spend time updating the class - Habitat Before viewing noticeboard. Are all the fact silhou- - Diet and feeding ettes accurate? Can you answer - Breeding • What type of animal is a Little any of the question silhouettes? - Behavioural traits Penguin? - Predators and threats Little Penguins • Have you ever seen a Little Pen- Share the information that you have guin? Was it in the wild, in a zoo or Little Penguins are the smallest of the recorded with the class. Add any in an aquarium? penguin species. They are also known facts that you may have missed. as Eudyptula minor or Blue Penguins, • What do you know about Little and were once referred to as Fairy Use the table to create a brochure Penguins? Write a fact about Little Penguins. Little Penguins live along the about Little Penguins that would Penguins on a cardboard silhou- coast of southern Australia, including appeal to children who visit the Pen- ette of one. What would you like to Tasmania, and in New Zealand. guin Parade at Phillip Island Nature know about Little Penguins? Write Park. Your brochure should be a combination of words and images. SCREEN EDUCATION
10 Use non-fiction books from the • Make a 3D classroom display library and reliable internet sites to that shows the habitat of Little locate additional information about Penguins. The display could be Little Penguins. a cross section of land and sea depicting penguins in their nests • Draw or download an image of a and in the water. Use branches and Wildlife documentaries Little Penguin and then label its other natural material to produce a physical characteristics. real-life effect. Penguin Island provides students with the opportunity to become familiar with • Little Penguins have a busy • Working as a class, make a list of documentary as a genre. annual cycle that changes with fictional stories about penguins. the seasons. A documentary is a non-fiction text Are any of these stories about Little that represents events and people from Penguin Island tells us about a year Penguins? real life. The purpose of a documentary in the life of the Little Penguins of could be to provoke thought, to edu- Phillip Island Nature Park. What species of penguins are cate or to persuade. To be successful, mentioned in these stories? a documentary needs to engage its Use this information and other audience. information found online at
• As a class, make a list of the features of a wildlife documentary series.
• Compare Penguin Island with another wildlife documentary that SCREEN EDUCATION you have watched by making a list of the similarities and differences.
11 Using Penguin Island in a secondary school classroom
Teachers may select from the following table to help you organise your activities to support students’ viewing notes. Use the following headings and close analysis of Penguin Island. for columns in your table: In selecting activities, teachers should remain mindful of the learning needs - Physical characteristics and abilities of individual students and - Habitat of the class as a whole. - Diet and feeding - Breeding Before viewing - Behavioural traits - Predators and threats • Have you ever visited Phillip Island Nature Park? Share your experi- Share the information that you have ence with the class. recorded with the class. Add any facts that you may have missed. After viewing Use the table to create a brochure Phillip Island • Did you enjoy Penguin Island? Tell about Little Penguins that would the class about one of your favour- appeal to adolescent and adult • Use your atlas to locate Phillip ite moments. visitors to the Penguin Parade at Island on a map of Victoria. What Phillip Island Nature Park. are its coordinates? Write a short • What aspects of Little Penguin description of Phillip Island’s loca- behaviour did you find surprising? Use other print and electronic tion within its region. resources to locate additional • What are the big ideas of Penguin information about Little Penguins • Drawing on Penguin Island and Island? and to source images to include in internet research, make a list of your brochure. land use on Phillip Island. Indicate As a class make a list of the themes the different types of land use on that are central to the narrative told by • Little Penguins have a busy annual a map of the Island. Remember to Penguin Island. Ask students to find an cycle that changes with the sea- use BOLTSS (Border, Orientation, example of each theme. sons. Legend, Title, Scale, Source). Write a description of land use on Phillip • What will be achieved by telling the Penguin Island tells us about a year Island. Make sure that you refer to story of the Little Penguins? in the life of the Little Penguins of the map in the description. Phillip Island Nature Park. Studying a species • Drawing on Penguin Island and Use this information and other internet research, explain how the Little Penguins are the smallest of the information found online at
Oil contamination, plastic packaging Bluey, Sheila, Frank, Flora and Using an egg tooth, the chick takes and nylon fishing line are just some of the other Little Penguin parents twenty-four hours to break out of the the contaminants that degrade water must swim for days on end to find shell. For the first two weeks, it is quality and endanger Little Penguins. anything to eat, leaving their chicks continually brooded by one or other hungry and alone on Penguin parent. The sea-going parent feeds the • Based on your viewing of Penguin Island. chicks by regurgitating pre-digested Island, explain the dangers that oil food into the chick’s mouth. During and plastic pose for Little Pen- Can you explain why fish may be in weeks three to eight, the parents both guins. short supply? go to sea to feed, leaving the chicks, who from week five wait outside the • How can the park rangers at Phillip • Why is it good to be an overweight burrow at night for their parents. At Island Nature Park combat these penguin? about eight weeks, the chick is fully problems? fledged and ready to leave the colony. Breeding It may return once or twice during the • The housing project behind the next year but will spend most of the kitchens is known as the Pen- ‘Now spring is coming, penguins return year at sea. guin Café. Using carefully placed to the colony to meet and mate …’ artificial breeding boxes, the Little Statistics suggest that 80 per cent of Penguins are establishing their Little Penguins build their nests in little penguin chicks die in their first ‘love nests’ despite the bright lights May, June and July. They mate during year. and the bustle of the café. The Lit- August, September and October. Eggs tle Penguins nest, mate, and bring are laid during September, October • ‘For these animals, raising chicks up chicks while the café staff turn a and November. and staying alive, it’s not easy.’ blind eye to the noisy shenanigans. – John Evans At night, and especially during the Do you think the Penguin Café is a breeding season, the noisy din of a Drawing on evidence from Penguin wise idea? penguin colony can be considerable. Island and in particular the story Song and displays serve to attract of Sammy and Tom, explain why Diet and feeding mates and ward off intruders; singing the mortality rate of Little Penguin duets consolidates a pair’s attachment chicks is so high. Little Penguins feed on around fifteen to each other. species of fish, but are also partial to • Why don’t chicks like Tilda, who squid. They need approximately 375 Usually a clutch of two eggs is laid, are born late in the season, usually grams of fish daily to maintain their two to four days apart. Incubation is survive? weight. Prey is swallowed whole. Little shared by both parents and lasts about Penguins may swim up to fifty kilome- thirty-five days. Moulting tres a day in search of food. • Why must the eggs be constantly Little Penguins moult once a year • ‘When fish are scarce, starvation is watched over by a Little Penguin during the months of February, March SCREEN EDUCATION the colony’s number one killer.’ parent? and April. They return to their burrows
14 and fast for the fifteen to twenty days it Dogs are excluded from the Summer- within Phillip Island Nature Park that takes to replace their old feathers with land Peninsula. are classed as rare or threatened. new ones. Before the moult, they must accumulate extra body fat or they may • Drawing on Penguin Island, list the • Imagine that you have been asked be forced to sea without waterproofing strategies that are being used to to recommend how the Little Pen- and will not survive. control feral animals within Phillip guin colony at Phillip Island Nature Island Nature Park. Park could be better protected. • Why do Little Penguins moult? • What other strategies could be What would you propose? • What are the risks associated with implemented to protect the Little moulting? Penguins from feral animals such Some possible management as foxes, dogs and cats? strategies are listed in the table Predators below to help you develop your A long, hot summer recommendation. ‘Foxes were introduced by homesick English settlers a century ago. It’s the The relentless heat of Australia’s hot- Reduce packaging Increase rangers’ job to get rid of them.’ test summer on record pushes the of goods sold in government Little Penguins to the brink. the park funding On land, Pacific Gulls, ravens and Protection of flora Increase signage introduced animals such as foxes, cats • Why are Little Penguins vulnerable and dogs are predators of the Little during periods of extreme heat? Research Ban tourism Penguin. In the water, its predators are Ban rubbish within Penguin breeding sharks, leopard seals and sea lions. By • How does human intervention ease the confines of the program keeping in groups, the Little Penguin the situation? park lessens the threat from predators. Conservation Ban domestic pets Improve fencing Fox predation is the greatest land- Establish more Establish more based threat to the Summerland Little The habitat within the Phillip Island conservation public viewing Penguins. Foxes ‘thrill kill’; that is, they Nature Park supports significant zones areas kill more animals than they immediately wildlife. Over forty fauna species within Introduce fines Limit recreation need for food. A fox may kill as many Phillip Island Nature Park are listed for as thirty or forty penguins a night. An conservation status in Victoria. The Relocation of Eradication of intensive fox control program com- park is an important breeding ground residents foxes menced on Phillip Island in the mid for many species, including Little
Expansion of Protection of SCREEN EDUCATION 1980s and this resulted in the culling of Penguins. The Summerland Peninsula wildlife services fauna 1000 foxes. Despite this intensive cull- supports a breeding population of Re-vegetation Road closure ing program, foxes are still a devastat- about 13,000 Little Penguin pairs. ing presence. There are twenty-two plant species Promote tourism What else? 15 marg healy and wildlife ambulance marg healy
• Drawing on evidence from Pen- The Penguin Hospital guin Island, explain why scientific • Based on your viewing of Pen- research is necessary? Wildlife rehabilitation is defined as car- guin Island, prepare a speech that ing for injured, sick or orphaned native explains why wildlife conservation • Is it fair to use the Little Penguins animals. is important. for research purpose? Working as a class make a list of pros and cons. It includes providing access to vet- Research erinary assessment and treatment • ‘These are wild animals and it’s a where required, then nursing care and New technology can help scientists completely wild population and support, with the goal of restoring the understand more about the lives of wild situation, so really as scientists animals to health and releasing them animals and how best to protect them. and people working in this industry, into their natural habitat. you’re really not meant to interfere Phillip Island Nature Park has its in that life and death and survival The Phillip Island Nature Park has a own research facilities. The efforts of process.’ – Leanne Renwick wildlife hospital. The hospital opened researchers like Leanne Renwick, Dr in the 1990s to care for Little Penguins Peter Dann and Dr Andre Chiaradia The role of the researchers and and other native wildlife. Once the protect the colony of Little Penguins at scientists is only to monitor the animals recover they are returned to Phillip Island Nature Park. penguins. the wild.
Many of the Little Penguins have Drawing on evidence from Pen- • Can you think of moments from been microchipped. The microchip, guin Island, explain what tests this Penguin Island that highlight how which has been inserted just under the principle. the Penguin Hospital rehabilitates surface of their skin, allows the staff at the Little Penguins and other wild- Phillip Island Nature Park to keep track • The volunteer penguin study group life? of the Little Penguins who live in the has been active for over forty colony. Frank and other Little Pen- years. • ‘No one knows penguins like Marg guins head out to sea with tiny satellite Healy.’ tracking and computerised logging Why are volunteers important to devices strapped to their backs with the ongoing work of Phillip Island Marg Healy runs the wildlife hospi- industrial-strength sticky tape. Then Nature Park and the survival of the tal at the Phillip Island Nature Park. SCREEN EDUCATION there is the weighbridge that identifies penguin colony? and weighs the Little Penguins as they What moments highlight Healy’s come and go. expertise?
16 marg healy
What moments highlight that for Summerland Peninsula was sub-divid- Why is her story an important part Healy working at the animal hospi- ed in 1927 for residential and commer- of Penguin Island? tal is not just a job? cial purposes. • Do you think relocating the resi- . What do the story of Foot, the Little Since 1985 there has been an ongo- dents of the Summerland Estate Penguin whose foot is damaged ing buy-back of houses on the Sum- was the right decision? How would by nylon fishing line, and Mauve, merland Estate. Over time this has you have reacted if you were the the Little Penguin who is heat- meant the removal of houses and road Wagner family? Keep in mind they stressed, tell us about the work of closures, allowing the land to revert to had holidayed for twenty-three the wildlife hospital? penguin habitat. Bluey and Sheila are years on the Summerland Estate. two of the many Little Penguins who Summerland Estate have made their nest on Summerland • Aside from taking away the houses, Estate. what else needs to be done to The Little Penguin as a species is restore the area to its natural state? not endangered. There are 70,000 • Learn more about the reclama- to 80,000 Little Penguins in Victoria tion of the Summerland Estate at • Write a list of reasons supporting alone.
‘Building your own home in Sum- merland used to be a dream for many SCREEN EDUCATION young couples. You could pick up a bargain block of land with a million dol- lar view. Only problem – thousands of penguins lived there already.’
17 Behind the scenes
Penguin Island took eighteen months night crawling around penguin story, establish key ideas, portray and three film crews to make. One burrows, lugging generators and key characters (both animal and film crew followed the penguins, lights up and down cliffs, getting human) and shape perceptions? another followed the human stories attacked by angry penguins and and a third filmed underwater. bitten by parasites. • What part does music play in Penguin Island? Do you find the For producer Sally Ingleton, making Working as a class, make a list filmmakers’ choices effective? Penguin Island was a very personal of the likely challenges of making experience. Like many Victorians, Penguin Island. • What is archival footage and Ingleton has fond memories of child- when do the filmmakers use it to hood holidays on Phillip Island, and • Rolf Harris is the narrator of Pen- tell the story of Penguin Island? evenings spent sitting on the sand guin Island. What is the role of the with a torch as the island’s most narrator in this program? Why do • ‘Penguin Island is visually famous residents waddled past you think the filmmakers chose spectacular.’ Do you agree? on their daily parade. So when the Rolf Harris to narrate? ABC and National Geographic were • Visit 360 Degree Films at
• Is the narrative of Penguin Island engaging? SCREEN EDUCATION • For more than a year, the dedi- cated film crews spent night after
18 Visit
Simon is an award-winning writer David Parer is an experienced and Online and director of documentary series accomplished natural history cinema- including King’s School, Operatunity tographer and filmmaker. His cinema- Official websites for the film Oz, The Ship, The Academy, Fight for tography credits are many and include http://www.abc.net.au/penguinisland/ Life, Rough Justice and UNI. Target Terrors of Australia, Wolves of the Sea, has also made a number of lifestyle Mysteries of the Ocean Wanderers, http://www.360degreefilms.com.au/ and travel shows including Surfing the The Dragons of the Galapagos, Islands penguinisland Menu, Kylie Kwong: Heart and Soul, of the Vampire Birds, Two Years in Kylie Kwong: Simply Magic, Wicked, Galapagos, Nature of Australia and Phillip Island Nature Park Mark Olive – The Black Olive, The Blue Australia Land of Parrots. List and Risking it All. http://www.penguins.org.au Hayley Smith | Natural Other websites about Rolf Harris | Narrator history field producer Little Penguins Rolf Harris – artist, musician, singer, Hayley Smith is a UK freelance produc- http://birdsinbackyards.net/species/ television presenter – has been er and director in wildlife programming. Eudyptula-minor awarded the CBE, is a member of the Her most recent credits include the Order of Australia and has won many BBC TV series Animal Planet, Meerkat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Penguin honours for his work in the entertain- Manor: The Next Generation, Stranger http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/ ment industry. He has had chart- Among Bears, Wild in Africa and its topping hits, written best-selling books successor Wild on the West Coast. animals/TheLittlePenguin.htm SCREEN EDUCATION and has been voted the best enter- http://www.penguins.org.au/index. tainer ever at the Glastonbury Festival. Reference php?option=com_content&view= His paintings have been exhibited in article&id=69&Itemid=25 London’s National Gallery and he is an Penguin Island press kit, 2010. 19 This study guide was produced by ATOM. (© ATOM 2010) [email protected] For more information on Screen Education magazine, or to download other study guides for assessment, visit
For hundreds of articles on Film as Text, SCREEN EDUCATION Screen Literacy, Multiliteracy and Media Studies, visit
20