Rockhoppers are cousins of macaroni penguins, therefore they share the same genus name “Eudyptes”, meaning 'good diver'. “Chrysocome” means “golden haired”.
What do I eat? Lots of krill (Euphausia vallentini) and some fish
What eats me? Fur seals, leopard seals, skuas, giant petrels
Range trip time: 11- 27 days
Range trip length: 95-300 (?) km
Depth of water where foraging: > 300 m
Extreme dive depth/time: Most dives go to 38 m or less, but the deepest dives recorded
were to 109 m; dive duration averages around 57 ± 34 seconds. The longest dive recorded
lasted 168 seconds.
Distribution: Circumpolar, with breeding colonies widespread on subantarctic and south
temperate islands in the Indian and South Atlantic Oceans.
Abundance: More than 3.5 million pairs in 1993, but since then many colonies have been shown
to be decreasing.
Not globally threatened.
Some of the colonies of rockhopper penguins at Heard Island have disappeared in recent years. Causes for this are largely unknown; in other areas rockhopper penguins get killed in drift-net fishing and find commercial fishers competing for the same food.
More information can be found on other Heard Island penguin species by following the links below.
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