The wandering albatross has the largest wingspan of any living bird, reaching up to about 3.5 metres, and it spends most of its life gliding over the open waters of the Southern Ocean, coming ashore only to breed on remote subantarctic islands. Its long, narrow wings allow it to travel enormous distances with very little energy expenditure by exploiting wind currents over the waves, and individuals can circle the globe multiple times in a single year while foraging for squid, fish and other marine life, often following ships to feed on scraps. Wandering albatrosses mate for life and engage in elaborate courtship dances, but they reproduce slowly, laying a single egg only every second year and raising the chick over many months. The species is classified as vulnerable, with populations threatened chiefly by longline fishing, in which birds are accidentally hooked and drowned while attempting to take bait.
Facts
Classification
Living or ExtinctDerived from this species' own Conservation Status: this atlas's IUCN category list has no Extinct value, so a set conservation-status is itself evidence of living status (w-bfill-g5-0924 browse backfill). Identification
Distinguishing AppearanceA very large seabird with a white body and wings marked in black, males whiter winged than females, a large pink bill, and pink feet; it has the longest wingspan of any living bird, up to about 3.7 meters. 1 Scientific Name Conservation Status Connections
Child Taxon Of
In Biome
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Sources
1. Wandering Albatross (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIntroduction, first sentence
The snowy albatross (Diomedea exulans), also known as the wandering albatross, white-winged albatross, or goonie, is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae
Conservation section
The IUCN lists the snowy albatross as vulnerable status.
Description section
The adults have white bodies with white and black wings. Males have whiter wings than females, with just the tips and trailing edges of the wings black. The snowy albatross is the whitest of the wandering albatross species complex, the other species having a great deal more brown and black on the wings and body, very closely resembling immature wandering albatrosses. The large bill is pink, as are the feet.
View the Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Catalogue of Life
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of LifeChild Taxon Of: ProcellariiformesView the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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