Protecting beautiful Australian penguins at Phillip Island

Fairy penguins, Phillip Island

photo credit: rove.me

Benjamin Preiss has told the most amazing story of Dr Peter Dann, Research Director at Phillip Island Nature Parks, is to retire after 40+ years in research and conservation.   

Penguin colony has expanded significantly in the time Dann has worked at Phillip Island. A property buy back in the 1980s helped consolidate the colony’s fut­ure. “I’ve met people who don’t like Christmas and cats and babies,” says Peter Dann. “But I’ve never met someone who doesn’t like peng­uins.” Dr Dann estimates he has watched the penguins come ashore at Phillip Island more than 1000 times, and has been fascinated every single time.

But after a 42-year career in penguin conservation and research, Dann believes the time has finally come to retire from full-time work. “It’s been a consuming passion of mine. My interest in it and the pleasure I get hasn’t diminished.”

He was the only research biologist working with the penguins at Phillip Island when he began in 1980, and it’s been his only full-time job. The conservation effort has since expanded, and Dann now leads a team of eight researchers at Phillip Island Nature Parks.

But all was not well at the penguin colony when he first arrived at the island. A housing estate at Summerland Beach, where the penguins nest in burrows, had grown to almost 180 houses. Numbers were falling in the penguin colony, which was regularly attacked by foxes and dogs. Penguins were often killed on the road by cars. It was the most difficult period of Dann’s career, and he was frustrat­ed that action to protect the penguins was happening so slowly. “I lost a lot of sleep over the population when it was clearly declining,” he recalled.

In the mid-1980s, the government decided to buy back the properties on the estate to protect the penguins. Dann said he lobbied the government to enact the policy, even though he was living at the Summerland Estate himself. “It was a very emotional time for a lot of people,” he said. “We had many difficult conversations, but it was a remarkably civilised process.” 

Dr Dann said in 1983 there were between 8000 and 12,000 breeding penguins on Phillip Island. It now has the largest colony of little penguins in the world with 40,000 spread across the peninsula.

Penguins emerging from the water, going across the sand to their burrows in the dunes.
Credit: penguins.org.au

Earlier this year the seabirds set a record when 5219 waddled up to their burrows from the water at the penguin parade. Fortunately Phillip Island’s penguin population is in good health.

Dann has grown intimately acquainted with the charismatic creatures and marvels at how the flightless birds have adapted to life at sea. He can instantly recognise their short barks when emerging from the water and their louder courtship calls.

Dann has co-edited a book on penguin ecology and management and written many academic papers. Yet he insists his affection for wildlife is not limited to Phillip Island’s beloved seabirds. Dann says there would be at least 100 animals jostling for space in his top 10 list and all native species have a right to exist in their natural habitat.

A property buyback at Phillip Island from the 1980s helped consolidate the penguin colony’s future. “To me, it’s tied up in justice as well.” Now he hopes the penguins will act as a flagship species and their endearing nature will encourage people to protect the entire ecosystem.

Dann feels confident the future of penguin conservation is in safe hands at Phillip Island, and he will continue co-supervising four PhD students.

“There’s only one thing on my list that hasn’t been done: the eradication of feral cats on Phillip Island.”

Phillip Island Nature Parks board chair Liz Stinson said the little penguins faced great challenges - from ocean warming to beach erosion. She said Dann’s 40-year continuous record of penguin research had been crucial in understanding how the animals adapt to change.

“Its value as we enter a period of more rapid and potentially more devastating change is inestimable,” she said.

Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio also thanked Dr Dann for this contribution to biodiversity. “The dedication of ecologists like Dr Dann is vital to protecting our precious plants and animals, alongside sustained investment in biodiversity,” she said. 

Dann feels he can retire free of the worry that plagued him as a young biologist when he feared for the future of Phillip Island’s penguin colony. “You can bask in the knowledge that the population is thriving,” he said.

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The world's smallest penguins, fairy penguins, are among most amazing Australia's phenomena. For possibly thousands of years, every evening, after sunset, in any weather, 365 days a year, these little penguins walk to their burrows at the Summerland Beach. They gather in groups of 10-50 individuals in the surf at the water's edge, and then, as if at a command, start marching through the beach to the sand dunes where their homes are located. To observe the Penguin Parade, go to rove.me