The Northern Rockhopper Penguin is a species distinct from the Southern Rockhopper Penguin. It breeds on a small number of islands in the South Atlantic and southern Indian Ocean.
Yellow crest feathers extend above the eyes, and it moves over rocky ground by hopping.
The Northern Rockhopper Penguin is one of the crested penguins of the Southern Ocean. Researchers used climate models with different ocean-circulation patterns to examine how sea-surface warming may affect the species. They combined range, habitat diversity, population size and trend, and connections among populations into a sensitivity index from 0 to 10.
The Northern Rockhopper score was 7 overall; the Indian population scored 7 and the Atlantic population 6. The study also estimated when ocean warming would rise above natural variability, comparing four climate models and two emissions scenarios. Differences among models exceeded those between emissions scenarios, and the authors identify the species as a monitoring priority under climate uncertainty.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Under most projections, the Indian and Atlantic Northern Rockhopper populations face intermediate exposure to warming. Their relative vulnerability rises in a warm storyline with high climate sensitivity, and the authors identify the species as a monitoring priority under climate uncertainty.