Rockhopper penguins are a smaller species growing a little under 2 feet tall and weighing only 5-10 pounds. They have the usual penguin markings of a white stomach and black wings, but these penguins also have a reddish-orange beak.

Males and females look so similar that scientists have to use a DNA sample to figure out the gender.

Rockhopper penguins have the yellow crest above their eyes, which makes it easy to confuse them with macaroni penguins; however, the rockhopper’s crest starts over their eyes like eyebrows and branches off from there, while a macaroni’s starts above their beak.

The rockhopper penguins are actually a group of three penguins (the northern, southern, and eastern rockhopper) that prefer to get around by hopping on rocks instead of sliding on their bellies like most penguins. They are located throughout the sub-Antarctic Ocean and in areas of the Indian and Pacific Oceans depending on the species. Rockhopper penguins prefer habitats with rocky shorelines and tall grasses to make their nests and burrows.

Rockhopper penguins are carnivorous, primarily eating krill but also shrimp, squid, crabs, and other small crustaceans. These penguins can spends days out at sea diving over 350 feet underwater for several minutes while hunting. The cold water is not a concern as they have a thick layer of fat, then down, followed by a ton of waterproof feathers to keep them warm. Spotting prey is easy as rockhoppers can alter the shape of their lenses to give them greater vision above and below water.

Breeding season time varies per subspecies, however, when it does occur, rockhoppers gather by the hundreds of thousands. They mate for life so the first few hours consists of the couples finding each other and walking to the same nest they used the previous year. After mating, the female will usually lay two eggs in the hopes that one survives. Both parents take turns hunting and incubating the eggs, which hatch after a month into small featherless chicks with black beaks.