~ALBATROSS~
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Subclass: Neornithes
Infraclass: Neoaves
Order: Procellariiformes
Family: Diomedeidae
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Their hooked bills are 5.5 to 7.5 inches (14 to 19 centimeters) with a pinkish hue in adults that are raising chicks.The largest albatrosses have wingspans that can exceed 9.8 feet (3 meters).They have the most pointed tails of the family and have mainly dark bills, feathers, and legs.Their bodies are mainly white and they have long necks, short legs.They are largest Seabird in North Pacific.Albatrosses are supreme gliders; with modified wings to maximize the updrafts and thermals over the open ocean.
HABITAT:
The Albatross wanders for months at a time searching for food. It sleeps on the ocean surface at night and drinks sea water. They nest on barren islands with thousands of other birds.Albatrosses are found in the northern Pacific Ocean Galápagos Islands to the coasts of Ecuador and Peru. They are also found in the Southern Hemisphere on coastal waters.
DIET:
Squid is the favorite food of the albatross.In addition to fish, albatrosses consume crabs, krill, seaweed, and small seabirds.
RE|PRODUCTION AND BEHAVIOR:
Though quiet while at sea, albatrosses are quite noisy at breeding colonies, where they communicate by wailing, crying, and clattering their bills. There is a definite courtship, rituals associated with mating, among the albatross, ranging from dances and wing displays to "calling" to one another.The albatross grooms itself often, and parents are quite attentive to the cleaning of the chicks. If approached, chicks and parents will regurgitate, bring up from the stomach, stomach oil and spew it at the intruder, covering him in a waxy substance that can harm feathers.After finding suitable land, the albatross usually builds a bowl-shaped nest and deposits a single egg into it. Albatrosses are monogamous, having one mate, and lay one egg each year. Incubation, the time it takes to warm the egg sufficiently for hatching to begin, lasts anywhere from sixty-five to eighty-five days. Parents take turns sitting on the egg, and both will play a role in raising the chick. Hatching occurs over a period of two to five days. Chicks remain with a parent at all times for the first three months and will fledge, take its first flight, between 120 and 180 days for smaller species to 220 and 303 days for the larger family members.Albatrosses do not begin breeding until they are between the ages of five and fifteen years. Chicks have a high survival rate because the breeding site has very few land predators. Annual mortality, death, rates for adults range from 3 to 9 percent. The oldest known albatross was still breeding at more than sixty-two years old.
GESTATION PERIOD: \
Albatross Sit on their eggs for 78 and 81 days.
TOTAL SPECIES:
There are 22 species of Albatrosses in Diomedeidae family
ENDANGERED STATUS:
Long-line fishing is the main cause of death. They see the bait on the end of the line, mistake it for a fish and, they find themselves caught up in it.Many species of albatross are at the decline.
INTERESTING FACTS:
The albatross is known as the Prince of Waves, and has great ocean wisdom
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