NORTHERN ROYAL

ALBATROSSES ORDIOMEDEIDAE

A research assignment by Hannah Neilson, Room 14, 2013.

DIET

Albatrosses mainly eat surface squid and

schooling fish, but they will follow

mariners’ boats in hope of dining on

hand-outs or thrown over board

rubbish/ garbage.

PHYSICAL FEATURES

Royal Albatrosses have an amazing wingspan

of over three meters(2m-3.4m!) Using this

wingspan, an Albatross can cover up to 5000

kilometres in one journey! Albatrosses also

have an amazing lifespan of up to sixty years.

They weigh around nine kilograms.

Albatrosses weigh around nine kilograms.

Albatross chicks end up weighing more than

their parents while they are growing up as

they have no way of losing weight while

sitting in their nest.

Physical Features

Continued:

HABITAT

Albatrosses can be seen around Taiaroa Head,

Otago Peninsula. They can also be seen around

the northern oceans, although can be seen all

around New Zealand coasts.

BEHAVIOUR

Albatrosses spend most of their time out at sea

because they are hunting for food so as to survive in

the wild. Albatrosses use their special tubed nostrils (

positioned at the top and slightly to each side of the

bill) to remove the salt from all the water they drink

when they dive after surface water squid and schooling

fish. Northern Royal Albatrosses have a regular route

they follow around the southern oceans

Behaviour Continued

Mating pairs only lay one egg every two years. Young

albatrosses can fly within 7-10 months of birth. They

leave their birth island for 5-10 years at 9 months.

Albatrosses use their formidable wingspan to ride the

ocean winds without a single flap of their wings for

hours on end. The sea is an albatrosses bed, as they

can float on it while sleeping and not sink. This

position makes them vulnerable to aquatic predators.

BEHAVIOUR CONTINUED

Albatrosses are rarely seen on land as they prefer

to remain at sea, only coming to land to breed and

raise their young. It takes up to seventy-nine days

for an egg to hatch after it has been laid.

INTERESTING FACTS

Albatrosses have special tubed noses up the top and

slightly to the side of their bill. They use these to

remove salt from the water the bird takes in while

diving for food. Albatrosses were heavily hunted for

their feathers, which were used as down and in the

manufacture of women’s hats.

INTERESTING FACTS CONTINUED

Albatrosses have a special place in maritime

and superstition, most memorably in

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of The

Ancient Mariner. They measure over one

metre from the point of their beak to the

tip of their tail. When albatrosses get tired

of gliding, they have a short rest on their

giant bed, the sea.

Illustrations/ Images

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Websites:

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals

Books:

New Zealand Book of Wildlife