Current view: Data table and detailed info
Taxonomic note
So far, there have been six genetic studies undertaken on rockhopper penguins using different genetic technics and analysis (Banks et al. 2006; Jouventin et al. 2006; de Dinechin et al. 2009, Frugone et al. 2018, Mays et al. 2019, Lois et al. 2020). Jouventin et al. (2006) found only significant genetic differentiation between the northern and southern/ eastern populations. However, Banks et al. (2006) identified three species, and proposed a further split of E. chrysocome into southern (E. chrysocome) and eastern (E. filholi) ‘species’. This was not adopted by BirdLife International on the grounds of small sample sizes and limited morphological differences between the southern and eastern forms (BirdLife International 2008). However, further research by de Dinechin et al. (2009) also supported the split of chrysocome and filholi.
Recently, Frugone et al. (2018) analyzed two mtDNA (HVRI, COI) and two nuclear (ODC, AK1) markers from 13 locations of five putative Eudyptes species: rockhopper (E. filholi, E. chrysocome, and E. moseleyi), macaroni (E. chrysolophus) and royal penguins (E. schlegeli). They found a strong phylogeographic structure among rockhopper penguins from South America, subantarctic and subtropical islands supporting the recognition of three separate species of rockhopper penguins. Mays et al. (2019), on the other hand, using similar markers but different modelling also found genetic structure and low genetic flow, but in his analyses the best-supported population models for the southern rockhoppers combined E. c. chrysocome and E. c. filholi into a single lineage or 2 lineages with bidirectional gene flow, and thus proposed that they should be treated as different management units only. Lois et al. (2020) added new information on the southern rockhopper (E. c. chrysocome) from the southwest Atlantic Ocean. Studying the genetic structure of individuals from different colonies located in the southwest Atlantic they found evidence for two genetic clusters within the rockhopper, one northern (Falkland/ Malvinas Islands and Isla Pingüino) and one southern (Terhalten and Staten Island).
Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
IUCN Red List criteria met and history
Red List criteria met
Red List history
| Migratory status |
full migrant |
Forest dependency |
does not normally occur in forest |
| Land-mass type |
|
Average mass |
- |
Population justification: Latest counts on islands off South America revealed a total of ca. 850,000 breeding pairs of subspecies E.c. chrysocome (Falkland Islands: 319,163 breeding pairs in 2010, Isla de los Estados: 135,000 pairs in 2010, Isla Pinguino: 1,061 pairs in 2014, Isla Ildefonso: 86,400 pairs in 2006, Diego Ramirez: 132,721 pairs in 2002, Isla Noir: 158,200 pairs in 2005, Isla Barnevelt: 10,800 pairs in 1992, Cape Horn: 600 pairs in 1992, Isla Terhalten: 3,000 pairs in 2008 and Isla Buenaventura: 500 pairs in 1992 [Schiavini et al. 2005, BirdLife International 2010, Raya Rey et al. 2014, Gandini et al. 2017, Baylis et al. 2013]).
The subspecies E. c. filholi totals 422,000 breeding pairs; Prince Edward Islands: 38,000 pairs in 2008/09 (Crawford et al. 2009); Marion Island: 58,955 pairs in 2018/19 (Makhado et al. unpubl.); Crozet Islands: 152,800 pairs in 1982; Kerguelen Islands (French Southern Territories): 85,500 pairs in 1985; Heard Island (Heard and McDonald Islands [to Australia]): 10,000 pairs in 2003; Macquarie Island (Australia): 37,500 pairs in 2007; Campbell (New Zealand): 33,239 pairs in 2012 (Morrison et al. 2015); Auckland (New Zealand): 3,000 pairs in 1990 and Antipodes Islands (New Zealand): 2,700-3,600 pairs in 1990.
There is evidence that there are at least three subpopulations, two within
E. c.
chrysocome (Lois
et al. 2020) and
E. c. filholi separate from these (Mays
et al. 2019). Mays
et al. (2019) found the best-supported population models for the southern rockhoppers combined
E. c. chrysocome and
E. c. filholi into a single lineage or 2 lineages with bidirectional gene flow, and thus proposed that they should be treated as different management units. Lois
et al. (2020) added new information on the southern rockhopper (
E. c. chrysocome) from the southwest Atlantic Ocean. Studying the genetic structure of individuals from different colonies located in the southwest Atlantic they found evidence for two genetic clusters, one northern (Falkland/ Malvinas Islands and Isla Pingüino) and one southern (Terhalten and Staten Island).
Trend justification: Several populations have experienced major long-term population crashes. Approximately 1.5 million pairs are estimated to have been lost from Campbell Island (94 % of the original total) between 1942 and 1986 (Cunningham and Moors 1994), with a further 21.8 % decrease between 1986 and 2012 (Morrison et al. 2015). In the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), the population fell by around 1.2 million pairs between 1932 and 2000 (20 % of the original total) (Pütz et al. 2003). At Staten Island, the numbers of Southern Rockhopper Penguins decreased by 24% between the censuses of 1998 and 2010 (Raya Rey et al. 2014). Numbers at Marion Island decreased by about 65 %, from 173,077 pairs in 1994/95 to 58,955 pairs in 2018/19 (Dyer and Crawford 2015, Makhado et al. unpubl.). The long-term trends remain unknown for the Kerguelen and Crozet populations (CEBC-CNRS database, C.A. Bost pers. comm.). Several other populations at the Auckland Islands and Antipodes Islands appear to have suffered severe declines of more than 40 % between the 1970s and the 1990s (Cooper 1992, Hiscock and Chilvers 2014).
Population modelling, based on those breeding sites that have been accurately surveyed, indicates that between 1971 and 2007 (three generations) the number of Southern Rockhopper Penguins declined by 34 % (BirdLife International 2010). In early 2016, there was a mortality of unknown extent of Southern Rockhopper Penguins in the Southwest Atlantic before and during the moulting period, with dead penguins (mainly caused by starvation) found along the coasts of Tierra del Fuego (around 300), the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands (300-400 on Saunders Islands) and near Puerto Deseado (around 200) (A. Raya Rey and S. Crofts pers. comm.). However, while the extent of this recent mortality has not been established, it appears that it may have affected the population at a larger regional scale (Crofts and Stanworth 2016, 2017, 2019, Morgenthaler et al. 2018.).
There has been no update to the estimated trend modelled across all published survey data up to 2007 (BirdLife International 2007), which calculated a decline of 34% over the previous three generations. This was largely driven by the declines in the Falklands (Malvinas), where data are most complete, and to a lesser extent, Marion Island (BirdLife International 2010). Subsequently some studies have indicated that declines may have paused across a number of these colonies (Baylis et al. 2013, Morrison et al. 2015), however a mass-mortality event in 2016, mirroring that in 1986 (Boersma 1987) appears to have resulted in an immediate 31% reduction in numbers of breeding pairs in the Falklands (Malvinas) colonies (Crofts and Stanworth 2017), with little or no recovery since (Crofts and Stanworth 2019). It appears that El Niño related mass mortality events may currently be too frequent for the populations to recover. As such the estimated trend over the past three generations remains a rapid decline at a rate in excess of 30%, which is suspected to continue at this rate over the next three generations.
Country/territory distribution
Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Southern Rockhopper Penguin Eudyptes chrysocome. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/southern-rockhopper-penguin-eudyptes-chrysocome on 22/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/11/2024.
