Rockhopper Penguins leaping off a cliff into the pounding surf at the Malvinas Islands.  The Rockhopper penguins are small, aggressive, crested penguins (genus Eudyptes), so named because of the way they hop from boulder to boulder when moving around their rocky colonies. Rockhoppers are a sub-Antarctic species breeding at cool, southern localities such as Macquarie Island, the Falklands, Campbell Island, Tristan da Cunha, and the Antipodes. On some islands the populations have declined substantially and the species has just been upgraded to 'vulnerable' by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Although there is as yet no consensus of opinion, three subspecies of Rockhopper have been recognized.