Northern Rockhopper Penguin

source: vinney-05.wix.com

Those little penguins can be found mostly in Tristan da Cunha Archipelago. The residents call them Pinnamins. They are similar to the Southern species, however, you can notice the one from Tristan have longer yellow and black feathers above eyes. Which makes them look very fancy!

source: photovolcanica.com

Unfortunatelly, the population of Northern Rockhopper had declined about 90% (!) since the 1950s. This is why this species is classified as endangered. Pinnamins feeds on sea life like krill, crustacean or little fish. They live near the shore and on cliff sides. The biggest population can be found on Gough Island, over than 95% of all Rockhoopers in the Archipelago. The rest are settle in Inaccessible and Nightingale Islands and just some of them (no more than 5000) can be seen on Tristan da Cunha Island at Jew’s Point. They came to breed in August and lay 2-3 eggs in September. Next month fluffy chicks are screaming for food. 

source: arkive.org

Interesting is the fact, that after feeding the chicks for 3-4 weeks (till about March) adults have no feathers. Every year they moult! And can’t swim that time. So for few weeks they are just standing, not moving so they won’t give away any quant of energy till the new stylish feathers have grown. You can just imagine how smelly the place is after having thousands of penguins doing all their needs there. However, their guano is perfect for agriculture. That is why, the Islanders harvest it every year from all islands. They call it Guano Trip. Classy.

source: photovolcanic.com

One more great fact? The Pinnamins have to be very very very agile! They are really small (not higher than 30 cm) and they need to overcome steep and high rocks. All species of penguins cannot fly. So they jump. They are hopping. That is why they are called Rockhoppers. They hop every day up and down to feed their chicks.

source: ibc.lynxeds.com

And besides all of this, they still have time to... be famous! 

source: cinema.it

source: kidsmovies.about.com

The one with great hairstyle and perfectly matched colors of sweater is Lovelace from ‘Happy feet’ and the other one also with a enthusiastic arranged hair and chic necklace is Cody from ‘Surf up’. Aren’t they great?    



All the information was taken from official webpage: tristandc.com and wikipedia.en