Eastern rockhopper penguin genetic divergence with the southern rockhopper penguin may have been caused by a vicariant event caused by a shift in the position of the Subtropical Front during the mid-Pleistocene climate transition. Analysis of a part of a mitochondrial control region from a northern rockhopper penguin found on the Kerguelen Islands showed that it may have come from Gough Island, 6,000 km away, and that the southern and northern rockhoppers are genetically separate, though some individuals may disperse from their breeding colonies. Many taxonomists have yet to recognize the split, although some are beginning to do so. "E. c. filholi" breeds
Rockhopper Exploration Rockhopper Exploration Rockhopper Exploration PLC (LSE:RKH) is an oil and gas exploration company headquartered in Salisbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom. It owns offshore exploration and production licences in the North Falkland Basin in the waters north of the Falkland Islands. Rockhopper is listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. Rockhopper was founded in 2004 to explore for oil and gas in the Falkland Islands. It received a listing on the AIM market in 2005. On 16 April 2010, Rockhopper commenced drilling of its first exploration well, 14/10-B (subsequently renamed 14/10-2) on its Sea Lion prospect using the