Albatross Facts I
Albatross Facts I
2. There are 3 species of albatrosses that frequent the northeast Pacific ocean; short-tailed, Laysan, and black-footed.
3. Albatrosses belong to a group of birds known as Procellariiformes, or ‘tube noses’. Tubes on the birds’ beaks allow them get rid of excess salt - a crucial adaptation that means albatrosses can spend most of their lives at sea, free from the need to find fresh water.
4. Four of the world’s 22 albatross species live in the North Pacific. There are no breeding albatrosses in the North Atlantic.
6. With wing spans of up to 3.5m, albatrosses have the longest wings of all birds. They are also amongst the longest lived.
7. The Albatross is an easily identifiable Bird with long, narrow wings, a large head, and a long, strong bill which is hooked at the end and has sharp blades on either side to handle slippery prey. There are three toes on each of the Albatross's feet with webbed skin between each one. Unlike many other species of Bird, the Albatross has no hind toes as these sea-birds simply have no need for them.
8. Albatrosses occur in all but one of the world’s oceans (the North Atlantic).
10. Albatrosses pair for life and take many years to find a new mate if their partner is killed - if they find a new partner at all.
11. Nature intended the albatross to be long-lived: they live to 60 years and beyond. However, extreme longevity has become rare - the birds face deadly peril in the face of longline fishing.
12. Once albatross chicks fledge, they do not return to land for many years. In the case of ‘great’ albatrosses this may be up to 5 years, but they may not start breeding until they up to 10 years old.
13. Albatrosses have large, long, hooked beaks, each made up of 12 distinct plates.
15. These long-lived birds, with low reproductive rates, are dying faster than they can re-populate.
16. Wandering and royal (‘great’) albatrosses have the largest wingspans of any bird in the world, reaching up to 3.5m (11ft).
17. Albatrosses are among the largest flying birds, weighing up to 10 kilogrammes (25 lbs).
18. Albatrosses are miracles of nature’s engineering – their long, narrow wings enable them to glide for thousands of miles on wind currents without flapping their wings.
19. Simply by angling their wings and their flight path, albatrosses can use the variation in air speed and direction near the waves to soar over the oceans. This phenomenon is called dynamic soaring.
20. This soaring is incredibly efficient, requiring less energy than sitting on a nest.
21. Albatrosses are the great ocean wanderers, often flying thousands of kilometres on a single trip to feed their chick.
22. The wandering albatross flies up to 10,000 kilometres (6,250 miles) to find food for its chick.
24. Albatrosses depend on strong winds to fly efficiently so the equatorial doldrums acts as a barrier.
25. The first evidence of the vast distances covered by albatross was collected in the 1960s when wandering albatross were painted pink and at-sea sightings were recorded.
26. Nineteen of the 21 species of albatross are globally threatened with extinction.
27. Albatrosses are being needlessly slaughtered by longline fishing vessels: the birds are attracted to the bait, get hooked, dragged under and drowned.
28. Longlines kill more than 100,000 albatrosses and 200,000 other seabirds every year.
29. Albatrosses are dying at a rate of around one every five minutes.
30. The ancestors of albatrosses evolved 50 million years ago, but it has taken only three decades of longline fishing for many albatross populations to start disappearing.
31. The Wandering Albatross is the living bird with the greatest wingspan, measuring almost 3.5 m.
32. The Hawaiian name for the Laysan albatross is moli.
breeding colonies.
34. Laysan albatross live on both land and sea. The birds spend nearly half the year in the North Pacific Ocean, touching land only during breeding season. They breed on various islands within the Hawaiian Archipelago.
35. Albatrosses use a technique called 'dynamic soaring', using the different wind speeds that occur at different heights. Cutting through the wind speed gradient enables them to gain height when gliding into the wind while turning and flying downwind, losing height, gives them extra speed.
36. An albatross's take-off is an embarrassingly clumsy affair. On land they have to run, using a 'runway' area of flat open ground, usually placed on the windiest part of the breeding island, and sloping downhill to increase speed.
37. Petrels and albatrosses can regurgitate foul-smelling oil from their stomachs as a means of protection. Young chicks, however, if alarmed will readily eject large quantities of this half-digested food, given to them by their parents.
38. Black-footed albatross travel long distances over the open ocean. They have long wings that reach 7 feet in length from wing tip to wing tip and 12 inches in breadth.
39. Once the chick has hatched it looks like a big fuzzy ball. It has lots of down feathers and the parent keeps it tucked away to protect it from the heat and cold when it is young. They need to find enough food to sustain themselves as well as enough energy to care for the fast growing chick.
40. While the chick gets bigger its downy feathers will be replaced by its full feathers and can look pretty funny like this mohawk. This is a Laysan albatross losing its downy plumage and gaining its adult plumage.
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