Description of the Rock-Hopper Penguin

The rock-hopper penguins, a hardy species of crested penguin, about one foot tall and weighing about five pounds. Its chin and back are black, and its chest and belly pure white. It has a reddish-brown bill, sharp-nailed fleshy pink feet with black soles, and geranium red eyes. The rock-hopper has a brilliant yellow streak above each eye flowing backwards, with long golden tassels, and a black crest it raises when agitated, which is often. The rock-hopper is a bouncy bird, which can jump about three feet out of the water onto land , and forward and upward when on land. In the Falkland Islands they are known as "jumping jacks."

Unlike most penguins, which like to come ashore on sandy beaches where they can easily waddle ashore, the rock-hopper likes harder landing places. The author describes rock-hopper penguins coming ashore on Sea Lion Island, where subantarctic sea waves sometimes crash ashore sending spray 300 feet into the air against sheer cliffs, and in which conditions no human could survive. As each wave recedes, dozens of rock-hopper penguins cling to the smooth rocks with their strong beaks and long, sharp claws, and struggle up with their narrow, hard-edged wings flailing. Some make it up the cliff before the rest are caught in the next wave and washed back into the sea, where they try again to land when the next wave comes in. Once they make it up the cliff, the rock-hoppers rest, preen, and squabble, then hop off to their clifftop colony to their mat

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Category: Science - D