【明報專訊】Oh those eyebrows look dashing, don't they? Standing at only two feet and weighing around three kilograms, the southern rockhopper penguin (南跳岩企鵝) is the size of a small child and one of the smallest species of penguin. You can easily recognise them by their eye-catching eyebrows, which are spiky (尖細的) and bright yellow. Their eyes may be blood-red but southern rockhopper penguins are friendly and quite chatty.

Hopping penguins

The southern rockhopper penguins get their name from where they like to hang out most— rocky shores of islands in the South Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Most penguins are awkward walkers on land. But not the rockhopper penguins, who can hop instead of waddle. They are able to do so thanks to their strong legs and sharp claws, which are helpful over steep rock surfaces.

Naturally, these penguins are excellent swimmers with beautifully streamlined bodies. Their wings are powerful flippers which can carry them to a depth of up to 30 metres in pursuit of prey, although they mostly remain in shallow waters to forage for fish, krill (磷蝦) and squid.

Fair Parenting

Papa rockhopper and Mama rockhopper share the work in caring for their young. Each takes turn sitting on the egg to help incubate it, while the other forages for food. The penguin parents are fierce protectors of their eggs, pecking at anything that comes too close to their nest.

Once the baby chicks are hatched, the father will remain with the chicks so that the mother can go off to hunt and bring food home. When the chicks are old enough to leave their nests, they join other young ones from the same colony to form small groups while their parents leave home to find food.

Struggle for survival

Over the past few decades, the population of southern rockhopper penguins has dropped sharply. They are now listed as "Vulnerable" in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Climate change has brought about a series of conditions, which are affecting the survival of the rockhoppers.

To combat climate change, we need to adopt a low-carbon lifestyle. Though we don't hop and swim like the rockhoppers, we can choose mass public transport such as trains and buses to travel around. For shorter distances, we may take a walk or ride a bicycle!

Text & photos: Ocean Park Hong Kong

■Glossary

dashing (adj) 瀟灑的/迷人的

awkward (adj) 笨拙的

waddle (v) 蹣跚行走

forage for (v) 搜尋(食物)

[Smarties' Power English 第238期]