12/14/2023 0 Comments Wandering albatross wingspan![]() On South Georgia, 52 males were found to average 9.11 kg (20.1 lb) while 53 females were found to average 7.27 kg (16.0 lb). However, 10 unsexed adults from the Crozets averaged 9.6 kg (21 lb). In the Crozet Islands, males averaged 9.44 kg (20.8 lb) while females averaged 7.84 kg (17.3 lb). Adults can weigh from 5.9 to 12.7 kg (13 to 28 lb), although most will weigh 6.35 to 11.91 kg (14.0 to 26.3 lb). On Macquarie Island, three males averaged 8.4 kg (19 lb) and three females averaged 6.2 kg (14 lb). The length of the body is about 107 to 135 cm (3 ft 6 in to 4 ft 5 in) with females being slightly smaller than males. As a result of its wingspan, it is capable of remaining in the air without flapping its wings for several hours at a time (travelling 22 m for every metre of drop). Even larger examples have been claimed, with two giants reportedly measuring 4.22 m (13 ft 10 in) and 5.3 m (17 ft 5 in) but these reports remain unverified. The longest-winged examples verified have been about 3.7 m (12 ft 2 in). ![]() The wandering albatross has the largest wingspan of any living bird, typically ranging from 2.51 to 3.5 m (8 ft 3 in to 11 ft 6 in), with a mean span of 3.1 m (10 ft 2 in) in the Bird Island, South Georgia colony and an average of exactly 3 m (9 ft 10 in) in 123 birds measured off the coast of Malabar, New South Wales. On the Crozet Islands, adults averaged 3.05 m (10 ft 0 in) in wingspan. ![]() exulans, which they elevated to species status, and use the term wandering albatross to refer to a species complex that includes the proposed species D. Some experts considered there to be four subspecies of D. Diomedea exulans gibsoni (sometimes known as Gibson's albatross, and treated as a full species, Diomedea gibonsi, by some authorities.Diomedea refers to Diomedes whose companions turned to birds, and exulans or exsul are Latin for "exile" or "wanderer" referring to its extensive flights. The wandering albatross was first described as Diomedea exulans by Carl Linnaeus, in 1758, based on a specimen from the Cape of Good Hope. Some individual wandering albatrosses are known to circumnavigate the Southern Ocean three times (covering more than 120,000 km) in one year. This is also one of the most far ranging birds. It is one of the largest birds in the world, and one of the best known and studied species of bird in the world. The wandering albatross is one of the two largest members of the genus Diomedea (the great albatrosses), being similar in size to the southern royal albatross. Together with the Amsterdam albatross, it forms the wandering albatross species complex. A few authors still consider them all subspecies of the same species. The SACC has a proposal on the table to split this species, and BirdLife International has already split it. It was the first species of albatross to be described, and was long considered the same species as the Tristan albatross and the Antipodean albatross. The planet will be a much poorer, sadder place if we allow these giant, beautiful birds to go extinct.The wandering albatross, snowy albatross, white-winged albatross or goonie ( Diomedea exulans) is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae, which has a circumpolar range in the Southern Ocean. “Wanderer” indeed.Īs WC wrote in 2012, albatrosses are the living definition of the wild ocean. The “exulans” is Latin for “wanderer.” A Wandering Albatross fitted with a radio transmitter was tracked circum-navigating the Southern Ocean three times in one year. The scientific name for Wandering Albatross is Diomedea exulans. At the well-studied South Georgia Island breeding colony, populations are declining by about 4% per years. Combined with the hazards of long-line fishing and plastic pollution – it looks like food to an albatross, and its clogs their guts and their kids’ guts – Wandering Albatross are highly vulnerable to extinction. Even for a species as long-lived as Wandering Albatross – and they can live as long as 50 years – that a remarkably low reproduction rate. Only slightly less than a third of their chicks survive to fledge. Wandering Albatross breed every other year, and don’t nest until they are 11-15 years old. She was within binocular view for maybe 10 minutes she never once flapped her wings. Watching this big girl fly by she seemed Cessna-sized. Perhaps they learned a lesson from that mariner the Samuel Coelridge wrote about. Unlike some other species, Wandering Albatrosses don’t seem to follow ships. This female was small, probably 10 to 10.5 feet as she flew across the path of our boat. An adult male can be 12 feet, wing tip to wing tip. Measured by wingspan, it’s the largest bird in the world.
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