Southern Rockhopper Penguins or just Rockhopper Penguins (Eudyptes chrysocome)
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The Southern Rockhopper Penguin or just Rockhopper Penguin, Eudyptes chrysocome, is a species of penguin closely related to the Macaroni Penguin.
Appearance and ecology
This is the smallest yellow-crested, black-and-white penguin, reaching a length of 55 cm (22 in) and having an average weight of 3.35 kg (7.4 lbs). It has slate-grey upperparts and a straight, bright yellow eyebrow ending in long yellowish plumes projecting sideways behind a red eye.
It breeds in colonies, from sea-level to cliff-tops, and sometimes inland. It feeds on krill, squid, octopus, fish, molluscs, plankton, cuttlefish, and crustaceans.
Rockhopper Penguins have a global population of about 3.5 million pairs. The nominate subspecies chrysocome breeds on the Falkland Islands, and on islands off Argentina and southern Chile.
The subspecies moseleyi, possibly a distinct species (as Northern Rockhopper Penguin, E. moseleyi) breeds on islands in Tristan da Cunha, and Amsterdam and St Paul Islands.
The subspecies filholi breeds on the Prince Edward Islands, the Crozet Islands, the Kerguelen Islands, Heard Island, Macquarie Island, and Campbell Island, New Zealand and the Antipodes Islands.
Status
The status of this species is vulnerable due to a fall of 24% in its population in the last thirty years.
Naming
As their name suggests, they spend their time hopping over rocks, and the explorers who discovered them were amused to see this.
The scientific name for the Rockhopper Penguin is sometimes given as Eudyptes crestatus, or Eudyptes Californfalkinalber.
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