Facts about Albatross
Albatrosses are colonial, nesting for the most part on remote oceanic islands, often with several species nesting together.
Albert A. Michelson conducted experiments on the speed of light from 1877 until his death in 1931.
Introduced species can have other indirect effects: cattle overgrazed essential cover on Amsterdam Island threatening the Amsterdam Albatross; on other islands introduced plants reduce potential nesting habitat.
The wingspans of the largest great albatrosses (genus Diomedea) are the greatest of any bird, exceeding 340 cm (over 11 feet), although the other species' wingspans are considerably smaller.
Two species (as recognized by the IUCN) are considered critically endangered: the Amsterdam Albatross and the Chatham Albatross.
An albatross is a central emblem in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge; a captive albatross is also a metaphor for the poиte maudit in a poem of Charles Baudelaire.
The use of dataloggers at sea that record ingestion of water against time (providing a likely time of feeding) suggest that albatross predominantly feed during the day.
Albatrosses reach sexual maturity after about five years, but even once they have reached maturity, they will not begin to breed for another couple of years (even up to ten years for some species).
Slope soaring is more straightforward: the albatross turns to the wind, gaining height, from where it can then glide back down to the sea.
Conservationists have also worked on the field of island restoration, removing introduced species that threaten native wildlife, which protects albatrosses from introduced predators.
Of the 21 species of albatrosses recognized by the IUCN, 19 are threatened with extinction.
Another threat to albatrosses is introduced species, such as rats or feral cats, which directly attack the albatross or its chicks and eggs.
Albatrosses lay a single egg in a breeding season; if the egg is lost to predators or accidentally broken, then no further breeding attempts are made that year.
The North Pacific albatrosses can use a flight style known as flap-gliding, where the bird progresses by bursts of flapping followed by gliding (Warham 1996).
One of these exiles, a Black-browed Albatross, returned to Northern Gannet (a seabird) colonies in Scotland for many years in a lonely attempt to breed (Cocker and Mabey 2005).
Of the two albatross species found in Hawaii, one, the Black-footed Albatross, takes mostly fish while the Laysan feeds on squid.
Birds arriving back at the colony for the first time already have the stereotyped behaviors that compose albatross language, but can neither "read" that behavior as exhibited by other birds nor respond appropriately (Tickle 2000).
Scientists and conservationists (particularly BirdLife International and their partners, who run the Save the Albatross campaign) are working with governments and fishermen to find solutions to the threats albatrosses face.
Given that most albatross ringing projects are considerably younger than that, it is thought likely that other species will prove to live that long and even longer.
Both the British Ornithologists' Union and the South African authorities split the albatrosses into four genera as Nunn suggested, and the change has been accepted by the majority of researchers.
The four genera are the great albatrosses (Diomedea), the mollymawks (Thalassarche), the North Pacific albatrosses (Phoebastria), and the sooty albatrosses or sooties (Phoebetria).
The albatrosses are usually regarded as falling into four genera, but there is disagreement over the number of species.
The need for wind in order to glide is the reason albatrosses are for the most part confined to higher latitudes; being unsuited to sustained flapping flight makes crossing the doldrums extremely difficult.
The molecular evidence suggests that the storm-petrels were the first to diverge from the ancestral stock, and the albatrosses next, with the procellarids and diving petrels separating later.
Albatrosses are popular birds for birdwatchers and their colonies popular destinations for ecotourists.
Albatrosses are so well adapted to this lifestyle that their heart rates while flying are close to their basal heart rate when resting.
The name Diomedea, assigned to the albatrosses by Linnaeus, references the mythical metamorphosis of the companions of the Greek warrior Diomedes into birds.
Most albatrosses range in the southern hemisphere from Antarctica to Australia, South Africa, and South America.
Albatrosses travel huge distances with two techniques used by many long-winged seabirds, dynamic soaring and slope soaring.
Albatrosses are highly efficient in the air, using dynamic soaring and slope soaring to cover great distances with little exertion.
The albatross diet is dominated by cephalopods, fish, and crustaceans (such as krill), although they will also scavenge carrion (carcasses of a dead animal) and feed on other zooplankton beyond krill (Tickell 2000).
The earliest fossil albatrosses were found in Eocene to Oligocene rocks, although some of these are only tentatively assigned to the family and none appear to be particularly close to the living forms.
Albatrosses have evolved to breed on islands where land mammals are absent and have not evolved defences against them.
The need for wind in order to glide is the reason albatrosses are for the most part confined to higher latitudes; being unsuited to sustained flapping flight makes crossing the doldrums extremely difficult.
Albatrosses are highly philopatric, meaning they will usually return to their natal colony to breed.
The adult plumage of most of the albatrosses is usually some variation of dark upper-wing and back, white undersides, often compared to that of a gull.
All the southern albatrosses create large nests for their egg, whereas the three species in the north Pacific make more rudimentary nests.
The use of satellite tracking is teaching scientists a great deal about the way albatrosses forage across the ocean in order to find food.
The tubes of all albatrosses are along the sides of the bill, unlike the rest of the Procellariiformes where the tubes run along the top of the bill.
Until recently, it was thought that albatross were predominantly surface feeders, swimming at the surface and snapping up squid and fish pushed to the surface by currents, predators, or death.
Albatrosses range widely in the Southern Ocean (South Pole Ocean or Antarctic Ocean) and the North Pacific Ocean.
Of the 21 albatross species recognised by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) on their IUCN Red List, 19 are threatened, and the other two are near threatened (IUCN 2004).
Albatrosses are among the largest of flying birds, and the great albatrosses (genus Diomedea) have the largest wingspans of any extant (living) birds.
When taking off, albatrosses need to take a run up to allow enough air to move under the wing to provide lift.
The exception, the Waved Albatross, is able to live in the equatorial waters around the Galapagos Islands because of the cool waters of the Humboldt Current and the resulting winds.
Several species of mollymawks and North Pacific albatrosses have face markings like eye patches, or have gray or yellow on the head and nape.
Early encounters with albatrosses by Polynesians and Aleut Indians resulted in hunting and in some cases extirpation from some islands (such as Easter Island).
Albatross chicks fledge on their own and receive no further help from their parents, who return to the nest after fledging, unaware their chick has left.
Albatrosses are large seabirds in the biological family Diomedeidae of the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses).
Based on their general shape and size, all of these are nonetheless generally regarded as trees.
Similar to the last was Plotornis, formerly often considered a petrel but now accepted as an albatross.
Of the four genera, the North Pacific albatrosses are considered to be a sister taxon to the great albatrosses, while the sooty albatrosses are considered closer to the mollymawks.
The albatrosses are a group of large to very large birds; they are the largest of the procellariiformes.
All albatross colonies are on islands that historically were free of land mammals.
Albatrosses in calm seas are forced to rest on the ocean's surface until the wind picks up again.