Albatross

Quick Take

• The words "albatross" and "Alcatraz" are connected, and the link is stranger than you'd expect. Discover the etymology →
• This bird can fly thousands of miles while burning almost no energy, and its secret has nothing to do with strength. See the gliding wings →
• Albatrosses can drink something that would sicken most birds, and they manage this feat thanks to a built-in biological workaround. Explore saltwater drinking →
• Albatross courtship takes years of practice, and choosing wrong comes with consequences that most animals never face. Learn about courtship rituals →

The sight of this familiar seabird and its massive wingspan flying high above the waters has seized the human imagination and inspired myths and folklore around the world for many centuries. It’s a true survivor with all kinds of unique adaptations for dealing with the stressful toll of long periods at sea. Competition with humans for food, particularly due to overfishing, has contributed to population declines in several albatross species, though trends vary and some populations are stable or recovering due to conservation efforts.

5 Incredible Albatross Facts

• According to an old sailing myth, the albatross bird contains the soul of a dead sailor killed at sea. This could represent a good or bad omen, depending on who believes it, but this rather solemn belief did not necessarily stop people from killing or eating them. This was a major plot point in the 1798 poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
• The word albatross comes to us from an Arabic word al-qadus or al-gaṭṭas that means literally “the diver.” The Portuguese then adapted it into the word alcatraz (as in the modern American prison). This was later absorbed into English as albatross.
• Except for the breeding season, the albatross bird is in near constant motion. A typical individual can travel thousands of miles every year.
• An alternate name of the albatross is goony bird for the comical way in which it lands on the ground, tumbling forward.
• Bird watching is a popular pastime around the world. The colonies of the northern royal albatross in New Zealand attract over 200,000 people a year.

Evolution

The earliest fossil evidence of albatrosses, Tydea septentrionalis, dates back to the early Oligocene and was discovered in Belgium. Other fossils dating back to the Eocene and the Oligocene have also been found in Central Asia, New Zealand, and South Carolina.

Experts believe that the great albatrosses and their North Pacific relatives diverged from each other 15 million years ago, while the mollymawks and sooties diverged about 10 million years ago.

Classification and Scientific Name

Albatrosses are birds of the family Diomedeidae. This derives from the ancient Greek hero Diomedes, who is said to have participated in the Trojan War. According to one legend, albatrosses sang upon his death.

Currently, most authorities recognize 22 species of albatross, though taxonomic debates continue regarding the exact number. For instance, taxonomists still debate whether the royal albatross is a single species or two northern and southern species. The albatross belongs to the order Procellariiformes along with petrels, shearwaters, and other seabirds. The last common ancestor of this family was probably alive more than 30 million years ago.

Species

There are 22 species of albatross, including:

The great albatrosses (Diomedea spp.)

• Wandering albatross (D. exulans)
• Antipodean albatross (D. antipodensis)
• Amsterdam albatross (D. amsterdamensis)
• Tristan albatross (D. dabbenena)
• Northern royal albatross (D. sanfordi)
• Southern royal albatross (D. epomophora)

Appearance

The albatross is a strong, big-bodied bird with some variation of white, black, or gray coloration (some species have a single color: the southern royal albatross is almost completely white). The long orange or yellow beak is hooked at the end and contains many horned plates. It also has tubes along the side that enable it to measure airspeed in flight.

The most impressive physical characteristic is the sheer size of the wingspan. Judged by the size of the wings, the great albatross (and the wandering albatross species in particular) is the largest living group of birds in the world, stretching up to 11.5 feet from tip to tip. It also weighs up to 28 pounds or about the same size as a swan. Even the smaller species have a wingspan of about 6.5 feet, more than most birds.

The wings are stiff and arched because the albatross rarely flaps them. Instead, the bird glides on the ocean winds for long periods with minimal body movement. This is a necessary adaptation because they have a lot of weight to carry around. It also means they cannot fly very well in the absence of wind. But the upside is that the albatross expends almost no energy while in flight.

Behavior

The albatross bird is very well-adapted for long periods out at sea. They combine the ability to soar in the air (while expending minimal effort) with the ability to float along the water. Although more vulnerable on the water, the albatross needs to come down occasionally to feed and drink from the ocean. It has a specialized organ that excretes the excess salt it ingests while drinking. Although well-suited for life at sea, the albatross sometimes stops on remote islands for rest. They also return to land in the breeding season and congregate in large colonies, which vary in density by species. They seem instinctively to be drawn back to the colony of their birth.

Habitat

The albatross is a native resident of the Southern Hemisphere around Antarctica, South America, South Africa, and Australia. In the distant past, it had a widespread distribution across much of the Northern Hemisphere, but now only a few species inhabit the Northern Pacific region, which spans from Alaska to California, Hawaii, and Japan. With the ability to eat seafood and drink saltwater, the albatross has few problems traversing the open oceans. The only thing it really requires is a strong wind for its survival. It has trouble traversing areas with gaps in the wind.

Diet

The diet of the albatross consists of squid, krill, schools of fish, and, much less commonly, zooplankton (microscopic marine animals). This seabird is also not shy about scavenging. It will trail behind ships to consume their garbage or feast on dead carrion that floats on the surface of the water. The exact nature of its diet varies from species to species. Unlike other predominant sea birds such as penguins, most species (like the wandering albatross) can only dive a few feet under the water, which makes it difficult to obtain the necessary food to support themselves. If it sees the prey from the air, then some species can plunge rapidly into the water to snatch it.

Predators and Threats

Because it spends so much time floating over the ocean (where no other large carnivores reside), the albatross has few predators, though juveniles are sometimes preyed upon by tiger sharks, and introduced species such as cats and rats will sometimes feast on the albatross eggs.

The only other significant predator is humanity. Some Arctic people might have hunted it as an important source of food in the barren north. Its feathers were also valuable in the creation of luxurious hats. Major threats to albatross survival include bycatch in industrial fisheries, dwindling food supplies due to overfishing, invasive species on breeding islands, and emerging diseases. The albatross faces constant competition with humans for scarce resources in the open ocean. Another threat is marine pollution that accumulates in the environment and slowly makes its way up the food chain. Slow poisoning can result in abnormal development, reproduction, and eventual death.

Reproduction, Babies, and Lifespan

After spending long months out at sea, the albatross will migrate to remote islands and coastal areas to breed. The albatross is quite picky about its choice of mate. Because many species mate for life, they cannot afford to choose the wrong partner. They perform (in human terms) an elaborate song and dance routine to communicate their sexual availability. This is accompanied by preening, staring, bill contact, calling, and pointing. In young birds, this ritual must be perfected and honed through years of trial and error. Eventually, it narrows down its potential mates to a single chosen one. This entire intricate process is integral to their survival.

After pairing up with a mate, the albatross is usually set for life. Even if the couple has difficulty conceiving, they will rarely break up. Since the bond is quite strong, they have a large amount of trust in each other. Together, they incubate the egg, rear the young, and construct a large nest out of grass, soil, shrubs, and even feathers. They usually choose a place in a high area with multiple angles of approach.

After copulating, they produce only one egg per breeding season and usually skip a year before breeding again. The young chick hatches from its eggs a few months later, underdeveloped and highly dependent on its parents for almost everything. In the first stages of its life, the parents alternate between protection duties and food-gathering trips. They feed the chick on a mixture of krill, fish, squid, and an oily substance produced in the stomach from other digested prey.

As a result of the scarce food supply, development is slow and difficult. A few weeks will pass before the chick is old enough to defend itself. It takes another three to 10 months before it fully fledges (meaning that it gains the ability to fly) and begins hunting for itself. The young albatross then spends the next five to 10 years at sea and returns to breed only upon reaching sexual maturity. The life expectancy of the albatross is typically up to 50 years, but some individuals, such as the Laysan albatross known as Wisdom, have been recorded living over 70 years. Many albatross do not survive the juvenile stage.

Population

Decades of human negligence have left the albatross in a bad shape. Of all the species listed by the IUCN Red List, almost every single one is threatened in some capacity. The Laysan albatross, which has a natural range stretching across the entire Pacific, is a near-threatened species with some 1.6 million mature individuals still remaining in the wild. On the other end of the spectrum, the critically endangered waved albatross and the Tristan albatross have only a few thousand members each. Most species exist somewhere between those two extremes, with 10,000 to 100,000 mature individuals left. For instance, the gigantic wandering albatross is vulnerable with 20,100 remaining.

Conservationists believe that better management of existing fishery stocks will be necessary to rehabilitate albatross numbers. Habitat restoration and the banning of chemical pollution will also help in this regard. It is not enough for the United States or any single country to act. Because albatrosses roam over such large territories (and because changes in one part of the ocean can disrupt other parts), it will take an international effort to succeed.