0:00:02 > 0:00:06There's a very special island off the south coast of Australia,
0:00:06 > 0:00:10where thousands of penguins come to breed.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14And thousands of people come to watch.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16Unique to this corner of our planet,
0:00:16 > 0:00:21the smallest of all penguin species, the Little Penguin,
0:00:21 > 0:00:24is battling to survive in a human world.
0:00:24 > 0:00:30But a dedicated team of scientists has sworn to guard them from people,
0:00:30 > 0:00:32predators...
0:00:33 > 0:00:38..and this year, from the hottest summer since records began.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40As starving chicks struggle to hang on
0:00:40 > 0:00:46and their parents scour the oceans for a dwindling supply of fish,
0:00:46 > 0:00:50what will it take to protect these pocket-sized creatures?
0:00:53 > 0:00:59Just seven-weeks-old, Sammy and Tom face the greatest challenge in their little lives.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01With food so scarce,
0:01:01 > 0:01:04all around them, chicks are wasting away.
0:01:04 > 0:01:11For these animals, raising chicks and staying alive, it's not easy.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15Parents must swim for days on end to find anything to eat,
0:01:15 > 0:01:21leaving chicks like Sammy hungry and alone on Penguin Island.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52Perched on an exposed clifftop, in the shadow of a condemned family home,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55is a shallow burrow.
0:01:55 > 0:02:01It's where penguin partners Sheila and Bluey chose to start a family.
0:02:04 > 0:02:09When mum and dad first left the chicks on their own at just three weeks of age,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12they started exploring the neighbourhood
0:02:12 > 0:02:16and soon learnt what life was like as a celebrity.
0:02:16 > 0:02:22Now seven weeks old, Sammy and Tom are a staggering
0:02:22 > 0:02:2420 times their birth weight.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30But they're still not big enough to survive on their own.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40It's eight o'clock, the hour when penguin parents
0:02:40 > 0:02:42come home after a hard day's fishing.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46That's if they've found enough food for the family.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55Sammy's waiting up. It's been two days since he's seen his mum
0:02:55 > 0:03:00and he's fluffed up and hopeful.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04There's nothing for penguins to eat on land, so until he's
0:03:04 > 0:03:10big enough to get out there himself, he's totally reliant on his parents.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13Tom waits in the family burrow.
0:03:13 > 0:03:19He's less than a day younger than Sammy, but he's smaller and weaker.
0:03:19 > 0:03:2480% of chicks don't survive their first year.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29When fish are scarce, starvation is the colony's number one killer.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34PENGUINS CHIRP
0:03:36 > 0:03:40Only those penguins that have dodged boats, predators and bad weather
0:03:40 > 0:03:43will return to their burrows tonight.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47There's no guarantee that Sammy and Tom's folks will be among them.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01PENGUIN SQUEAKS
0:04:01 > 0:04:05Sammy's unique peeping call is recognisable only to his parents.
0:04:05 > 0:04:11But he has no way of knowing which of these adults is his mum or dad.
0:04:14 > 0:04:20Also waiting up are the eight-week-old tearaways next door, Butch and Bruiser.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25More aggressive than Sammy, they beg from every passing adult.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33PENGUINS CHIRP AND SQUEAK
0:04:33 > 0:04:37Sammy seems to have a little more self-respect.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39He wants his real mum.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46This female has had it with Butch and Bruiser.
0:04:46 > 0:04:51They're not her chicks and she's desperate to find her own.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55It could be good news for Sammy.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58If she's not their mum, then maybe she's his?
0:04:58 > 0:05:01There's only one way to be sure.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05A penguin version of the rugby tackle.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10But it's all for nothing.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12She doesn't recognise him.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23Penguins stream past Sammy and Tom's burrow, ignoring the peeping chicks.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29PENGUIN SQUEAKS
0:05:29 > 0:05:34The adult penguins all have their own chicks to feed in the scrub behind the house.
0:05:42 > 0:05:47A no-show from mum and dad means yet another day hungry and alone.
0:06:02 > 0:06:07It's early December, and the heat has already set in.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15It's going to be a tough summer for all the island's animals.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28But time is running out for the chicks in the clifftop burrow.
0:06:28 > 0:06:35Sammy and Tom have only a few weeks to grow to a weight where they can survive at sea.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38Without regular food, they'll never make it.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45Penguin ranger Elizabeth Lundahl-Hegedus lives here.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49She's been keeping an eye on the penguins that nest in her garden.
0:06:49 > 0:06:55And with the heat picking up, she's a bit worried about Sammy and Tom's burrow.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00That's the only natural penguin burrow, that's actually
0:07:00 > 0:07:05right smack in the middle of the grass here.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07And it's not a very successful one.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10Well, it's a bit...open.
0:07:11 > 0:07:17I think the roof has caved in because it's so terribly dry that there's nothing holding it together there.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21Sammy and Tom are just two of 26,000 Little Penguins
0:07:21 > 0:07:25who hide away along this rugged two mile coast of Phillip Island.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30But they are being watched -
0:07:30 > 0:07:35by a team of dedicated scientists close-by.
0:07:35 > 0:07:41We're so environmentally conscious in this place that I can't actually find a plastic bag.
0:07:41 > 0:07:42OK.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54Field researcher Leanne Renwick keeps track of micro-chipped
0:07:54 > 0:07:59penguins in special sites, to check the health of the whole colony.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09She soon realises something is wrong.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21This chick has quite obviously died
0:08:21 > 0:08:26and unfortunately its sibling is dead inside.
0:08:28 > 0:08:29There's two on top of each other.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32There's another one close by and...
0:08:32 > 0:08:35I can actually see another two just right nearby, as well.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40Which seems to be a little too many, just right here in one area.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44There's another dead chick in here as well.
0:08:44 > 0:08:52Leanne knows how tough life is for penguin chicks, but this is much worse than normal.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Oh, this one's going terrible.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00This one anyway is 470g.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04So it's not looking good.
0:09:05 > 0:09:10Clearly, penguin parents are not coming home to feed their chicks,
0:09:10 > 0:09:14leaving them to die a slow death from starvation.
0:09:16 > 0:09:22It's heartbreaking, but the scientist's role is only to monitor the penguins.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27These are wild animals and it's a completely wild population and wild situation,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30so, really as scientists and people working in this industry,
0:09:30 > 0:09:35you're really not meant to interfere in that life and death and survival process.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40There are thousands of chicks around here at the moment,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43you know, just not making it through the breeding season.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46So, you just can't rescue them all.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51Immature chicks are unable to rescue themselves.
0:09:51 > 0:09:58They can only wait and wait for mum and for dad to come back with food supplies.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10In this heat, Elizabeth checks in on Sammy and Tom one more time.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13But she's about to make a grim discovery.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19Another night without food was just too much for poor little Tom.
0:10:21 > 0:10:27He must have collapsed while out desperately begging for something to eat.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31Sammy is now left to continue on his own.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34I don't think that that one's going to survive either.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37It could do, if the parents come back tonight.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41But obviously the reason the other one died is that it hasn't been fed,
0:10:41 > 0:10:46so it means that they've gone a long way away to fish and are not finding anything.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50If it's lying around like that I tend to throw it into the bushes
0:10:50 > 0:10:53because little children will come past in the car and get upset.
0:10:53 > 0:11:00And lots of parents don't want their children to know what actually goes on in nature, so...
0:11:00 > 0:11:04Nature is cruel, or not even cruel, it's just totally indifferent.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09Penguin parents don't usually stay away this long.
0:11:11 > 0:11:19With chicks back on shore, they normally make short day trips - unless they can't find fish nearby.
0:11:22 > 0:11:28Ranger John Evans is checking for telltale schools of fish, called bait balls.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31It's a kind of penguin banquet.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34It's all really to do with how close it's feeding to shore,
0:11:34 > 0:11:38so those adult birds are always going to look after themselves.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42So if they're too far away, and they still haven't caught enough food,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45they're going to stay out at sea. So that's when those chicks
0:11:45 > 0:11:48cannot get fed perhaps one, two, three, four days.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53So it all depends on how close the schools of pelagic fish are to here,
0:11:53 > 0:11:58and how close those birds are catching them, will depend on that chick getting fed.
0:11:59 > 0:12:05Penguins with chicks on land will normally swim no more than about 12 miles to find food.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11But that's still the equivalent of two marathons for us -
0:12:11 > 0:12:15given our comparative size - just to get lunch.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21And they travel pretty much non-stop, too.
0:12:21 > 0:12:26Occasionally taking a nap for a few minutes at a time as they float on the surface.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34But the longer they are out here, combing the sea for food,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37the more they're exposed to danger.
0:12:42 > 0:12:47Their white bellies make them a little harder to spot by sharks peering up from below.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55And their dark blue overcoats give them the perfect camouflage from predators in the sky.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01But that doesn't protect them from humans.
0:13:07 > 0:13:12There's plenty at sea to stop a penguin making it home.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24Ranger John Evans patrols the colony.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27He knows it's no easier for penguins stuck on land.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35He's not sure Sammy is going to make it.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39It's a reasonable weight.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43What do they say? Life's exhausting, you know?
0:13:43 > 0:13:48I mean, we probably find it easy. We're about the only ones that do find it easy at times,
0:13:48 > 0:13:54but for these animals, raising chicks and staying alive, it's not easy.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57The clock is ticking.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Sammy's parents have got a day or two at most,
0:14:00 > 0:14:03if they are to save their sole surviving chick.
0:14:12 > 0:14:18Down at the Penguin Parade, the tourists who've come to see the cute Little Penguins
0:14:18 > 0:14:22have little idea of the life and death struggle going on, up in the hills all around them.
0:14:25 > 0:14:32The audience is well fed, but the performers are hungry and their numbers are down.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51Just around the coast, far from the glitz and the glamour
0:14:51 > 0:14:54of the big show, other penguins swim ashore unnoticed.
0:14:58 > 0:15:03Sammy is out of his burrow on his nightly vigil.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11Underfed chicks often seek company
0:15:11 > 0:15:15and he's teamed up with neighbours Bruiser and Butch.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19THEY ALL START CHIRPING
0:15:19 > 0:15:22Sammy's a lot smaller than the others.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24He's wasting away.
0:15:26 > 0:15:31He begs from his friends - a sign that he is desperately hungry.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39Flora, that's Butch and Bruiser's mum, has made it back this evening.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43She's clearly found a good food supply not far from shore.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50But still no sign of Sammy's mum or dad.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58Tonight, Sammy rushes to join the scrum.
0:15:58 > 0:16:03Bruiser gets the first mouthful of regurgitated squid.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06THEY CHIRP FRANTICALLY
0:16:06 > 0:16:11Just one little scrap would be enough to keep Sammy going for another night.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20But Flora will only feed her own chicks.
0:16:27 > 0:16:33As the weather worsens, Flora's kids are still pestering her for more grub.
0:16:33 > 0:16:38They can guzzle up to 320g in a single night.
0:16:38 > 0:16:43Maybe when their dad, Frank, gets home he can dish up seconds.
0:16:45 > 0:16:50After three nights at sea, Frank is on the last leg home.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55Penguins have an acute visual memory to guide them back,
0:16:55 > 0:16:59but it's a bit of an obstacle course round the back of the visitors' centre.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05There's a great shortcut right across the car park.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09Some bright sparks have even tried to nest here!
0:17:09 > 0:17:15It's a major headache for the rangers and for the penguins.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30Another few hundred yards and Frank will be home.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Dad, the delivery man, is back
0:17:38 > 0:17:39and he dishes out dessert.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50After feeding Butch and Bruiser,
0:17:50 > 0:17:52Frank greets Flora fondly.
0:17:54 > 0:18:00Some penguins mate for life and Frank and Flora have now been together for four years.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05Poor Sammy can only watch
0:18:05 > 0:18:08and wonder where his mum and dad are now.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21So, all the transmitters are on, so at least that's...
0:18:21 > 0:18:25The scientists want to work out exactly why penguin parents
0:18:25 > 0:18:29are leaving their chicks starving on land for so long.
0:18:29 > 0:18:35The best way to find out - satellite tracking devices.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44If they can plant one on an adult before it heads off to sea,
0:18:44 > 0:18:48it could lead them to the penguins' current hunting grounds.
0:18:50 > 0:18:56It's late afternoon and Frank is still snoozing after that long trek through the car park.
0:19:06 > 0:19:11You really need to wear proper protection when waking up a penguin with their razor-sharp beak.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18Frank will be one of eight penguins to have a tracker snugly fixed
0:19:18 > 0:19:23to his back with industrial strength sticky tape.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25Yeah. Have you got its head from behind?
0:19:25 > 0:19:27Yep, that's it.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31Back in the burrow, Flora comforts Frank.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33CHIRPING AND SQUEAKING
0:19:33 > 0:19:36It's a greeting call. Just, "Hi, honey.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39"It's you again. That's good."
0:19:48 > 0:19:54At 4am, the penguin parents assemble for another perilous voyage,
0:19:54 > 0:19:57and they head down to the beach before it gets light.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08The morning rush has begun.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13Jittery about swooping gulls, they like to get down to the beach
0:20:13 > 0:20:16and into the water before sun-up.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37Frank's late for today's marathon food hunt.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Maybe it's that tracker on his back.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45So as not to put him off any more, we've switched to night vision.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52Penguins are wary on land and anything can scare them -
0:20:52 > 0:20:54even a tiny bush mouse.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10Next, Flora emerges to farewell her mate.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15Penguins fish alone and this couple may not see each other for several days.
0:21:17 > 0:21:23Frank heads off with £2,000 worth of electronics stuck to his back.
0:21:23 > 0:21:29He has no idea he's transmitting a signal halfway round the world.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32- So, there were eight trackers? - Yeah, eight.
0:21:32 > 0:21:37The scientists will follow the signal from Frank's tiny transmitter
0:21:37 > 0:21:40via a satellite station in France.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45This one here, at 9 o'clock, was 10km.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49After just a few hours, Frank is already far out to sea.
0:21:54 > 0:21:59But then he just keeps going, way beyond the usual ten-mile range.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06Soon they are 50 miles from their burrows,
0:22:06 > 0:22:09crossing some of the busiest shipping lanes in Australia.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23It's unusual for penguins to come this far in summer.
0:22:26 > 0:22:32Close to the city of Melbourne, an incredible 75 miles from home.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38They've found a nutrient-filled river that drains into the bay.
0:22:41 > 0:22:46Micro-organisms blooming here have produced the penguin Holy Grail -
0:22:46 > 0:22:48a massive school of bait fish.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52It's a slap-up meal for penguins desperate to feed their chicks.
0:23:15 > 0:23:22These tiny battlers now must make the long journey home with the day's shopping.
0:23:33 > 0:23:39Two days later and nothing stops the nightly arrival of nature tourists.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42But will more penguins be home tonight?
0:23:53 > 0:23:58Numbers are definitely up. It looks like they've made it safely back
0:23:58 > 0:24:01from their distant hunting ground.
0:24:02 > 0:24:08With starving chicks waiting, there's no time to dawdle for the adoring fans.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18For the tourists, the long uphill waddle is entertainment.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23For the penguins, it's a race for survival.
0:24:28 > 0:24:35Meanwhile, up on the cliff, despite his crippling hunger, Sammy is giving it one last go.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46Suddenly, there's a familiar figure. But he has made mistakes before.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49No need for a rugby tackle this time.
0:24:49 > 0:24:55His mum, Sheila, recognises her only surviving chick and feeds him dinner.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04Sammy now has a fighting chance.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20Later that night, the signal from the satellite station in France
0:25:20 > 0:25:25says that another Little Penguin has made it home to the island.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29The scientists head off to relieve Frank of his tracking device.
0:25:33 > 0:25:38Frank clambers 100 yards up the cliff after four days at sea.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44Flora has made it home too and Frank rushes to greet her.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50But the little fisherman can't be that exhausted as one thing
0:25:50 > 0:25:54soon leads to another for this devoted couple.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58I wonder what they'll be making of that signal in France!
0:26:04 > 0:26:07You'd think they'd give him ten minutes with the missus
0:26:07 > 0:26:10- before coming to collect their blessed gadget!- Got him!
0:26:12 > 0:26:15Fantastic. This is the penguin with the transmitter.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22It feels like it's an OK weight but it's certainly not huge.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26So it's sort of seeming like, even though they're going a long way to get food at the moment,
0:26:26 > 0:26:31that they're still not managing to find a huge amount out there.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36Frank has clocked up a round trip of 150 miles in four days.
0:26:36 > 0:26:41And that's with the tracker attached to his back.
0:26:41 > 0:26:46He scurries off to feed the kids before anything else gets stuck to his body!
0:26:49 > 0:26:51But what about little Sammy?
0:26:51 > 0:26:56Two days after he nearly starved to death, have his parents managed to feed him up?
0:26:56 > 0:27:00I think he's probably got a bit of a chance that he might make it.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04I've seen penguins that are much skinnier and in much worse condition than he is.
0:27:04 > 0:27:10He's much stronger now. Looks like he's going to reach the next hurdle.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14Sammy's close to what's known as fledging - that's the moment he can
0:27:14 > 0:27:19finally leave the burrow and venture out to sea to find his own food.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23That's a short walk down the cliffs for us,
0:27:23 > 0:27:27but a giant leap into the unknown for Australia's Little Penguin.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36Next - Penguin Island scorches in 104 degree heat,
0:27:36 > 0:27:39causing havoc among its animal population.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43Penguins are just not kitted out for weather like this.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46They're just staggering around and falling over.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49Can Sammy reach the ocean in these conditions?
0:27:49 > 0:27:52Oh, mate. You're just a bit hot.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54And what do you do with an overheated seabird?
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Nice spot for it, in with the fruit and veggies.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59If in doubt, stick 'em in the fridge!
0:28:22 > 0:28:25Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:25 > 0:28:28E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk