Southern Rockhopper Penguin Eudyptes chrysocome

Southern Rockhopper Penguins
Southern Rockhopper Penguin
Southern Rockhopper Penguin
Rockhopper Penguins, with their comical streaks of blonde "hair", live on rocky southern coasts of South America and on islands in the southern Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. In 1992, the Rockhopper (E. chrysocome) was split into 3 subspecies, the Northern, the Southern and the Eastern. In 2006, they were further split into two distinct full species, the larger Northern, (E. moseleyi) of more temperate Atlantic and Indian Ocean islands and the smaller Southern (E. chrysocome) of sub-Antarctic waters around Cape Horn and New Zealand, incorporating the Eastern subspecies.
Ice with that? "Do you want ice with that?" The Southern has shorter yellow eyebrows and crests.
Rockhopper Penguin juvenile Juvenile Rockhoppers don't have the blonde locks.
Rockhopper Penguin young Initially they have black beaks and feet that turn red/pink later.
Eastern Rockhopper Penguin
Eastern Rockhopper Penguin
Eastern Rockhopper Penguin
The Southern Rockhopper has two subspecies, the Western and the Eastern (genetically closer than the Northern full species). The main difference is their distribution, the Western (E. c. chrysocome), around the southern tip of South America and the Eastern in the far southern Indian Ocean and subantartic regions south of New Zealand. The latter, (E. c. filholi), one of the samllest of the crested penguins and with distintive pink margins around its bill, is shown in the row immediately above. Others on the page are the Western subspecies (without pink bill margins).
Southern Rockhopper Penguin
Southern Rockhopper Penguin
Southern Rockhopper Penguin
As their name indicates, they hop and jump well. The Southern Rockhopper is particularly vulnerable to climate change, the adults having to go farther from nesting grounds to find food for chicks and finding food of lesser quality. Populations, particularly of the Eastern subspecies, are rapidly declining.