14.3. Variations

14.3.1. Extensible Read Head

Phillip Island in Victoria on Australia's south coast is famous for a colony of Little Penguins (sometimes known as "Fairy Penguins") that nest in the dunes behind the beach. The colony is in the Phillip Island Nature Park and attracts over half-a-million tourists each year who come to watch the nightly "penguin parade" as the penguins walk across the beach.

A team of staff and volunteers protect and maintain the colony, tracking the population and logging details of births, deaths, and other events. Many of the penguins have a tiny RFID chip implanted just under the skin so they can be identified in the same way as a lost domestic cat or dog, and as they walk into the dunes they pass through a narrow chute that scans and weighs them automatically. The details are then logged for future reference.