Perth Zoo keeper hand raises penguin

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.

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.

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.