![]() Wandering Albatrosses are also one of the best known and most studied species of birds.The Wandering Albatross is the largest member of its genus ( Diomedea) and is one of the largest birds in the world.Do Wandering Albatrosses have any natural predators?īecause they’re so big and spend almost all of their lives in flight, Wandering Albatrosses have almost no natural predators. There are about 25.200 adult Wandering Albatrosses in the world today. How many Wandering Albatrosses are there today? Wandering Albatrosses can live for over 50 years. Eventually both parents will start to hunt at the same time, visiting with the chick at widening intervals. The hunting parent returns to regurgitate stomach oil for the chick to feed on. Once the chick is born the adults switch off between hunting and staying to care for the chick. Incubation takes around 11 weeks, the parents taking turns. The female will lay 1 egg about 10 cm long, sometime between the middle of December and early January. Mating season starts in early November with the Albatrosses creating nests of mud and grass on one of the Sub-Antarctic islands. The pair will mate for life, breeding every 2 years. When courting, the male Wandering Albatross will spread his wings, wave his head around, and rap his bills against that of the female while making a braying noise. Wandering Albatrosses mature sexually around 11 years of age. What are Wandering Albatross mating rituals like? Wandering Albatrosses can fly up to 40 km per hour. They can gorge themselves so much that they become unable to fly and just have to float on the water. They’ll also attempt to eat almost anything they come across and will follow ships in the hopes of feeding on its garbage. Wandering Albatrosses make shallow dives when hunting. Location: All oceans except in the North Atlantic.ĭiet: Cephalopods, small fish, crustaceans.Īppearance: White with grey-black wings, hooked bill. The common breeding area is the Sub-Antarctic Islands.Name: Wandering Albatross, Snowy Albatross, White-winged Albatross ( Diomedea exulans) The wandering albatross birds are known to breed after every two years. The life span of these species of bird is approximated to be fifty years. It is a little bit difficult to calculate the total distance traveled by these birds however, one bird was recorded to have traveled around 600 km in twelve days. This species spends a significant percentage of their life in flight. They are mainly found on New Zealand's Kaikoura Peninsula, Tasmania's Macquarie Islands, South Africa's Prince Edward Islands, and the Crozet Islands and Kerguelen Islands, both overseas territories of France located in the southern Indian Ocean. These birds can be observed to move around in the Southern Ocean three times in a year. Their ability to float in the air without flapping the wings has led to scientists believing that future drones will have great ability to fly deep into the winds. It is also one of the bird species that has been extensively studied by scientists. These birds have the largest wingspan, ranging from 8.23 to 11.8 feet. Apart from being the largest species of the albatross birds, this bird has also been classified as one of the largest birds in the world. The wandering albatross ( Diomedea exulans) is the largest member of the albatross family. Three of these species have been listed as being critically endangered, five of them are endangered, seven of these species have been classified as being nearly threatened, while the remaining seven are vulnerable to extinction. The albatross species is wholly endangered, according to this report. According to a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), there are 22 species of the albatross birds. They are also observed to follow ships to feed on garbage. The albatross birds are known to feed majorly on squid. Therefore, these birds prefer to rest on the surface of waters. They can stay aloft in the air for extended periods of time without actually flapping their wings however, the albatross birds find it difficult to stay air-bone when the weather is calm. The most striking feature of these birds is their ability to float in the air even during the windy weathers. ![]() Despite the existence of fossils in the Northern Atlantic region, albatross have been absent in this region for a long time. ![]() These seabirds are commonly found in the Northern Pacific region and the Southern Ocean. The albatross birds have been ranked as the largest flying birds and have the longest wingspans among all the extant birds. The wandering albatross species is the largest albatross species. Albatross are large seabirds that have been classified under the Diomedeidae family.
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