Identified stakeholders such as governments, conservation organisations, and people in the fishing industry are all working toward reducing this bycatch.ĭescription Taxonomy and evolution Longline fisheries pose the greatest threat, as feeding birds are attracted to the bait, become hooked on the lines, and drown. Albatrosses are threatened by introduced species, such as rats and feral cats that attack eggs, chicks, and nesting adults by pollution by a serious decline in fish stocks in many regions largely due to overfishing and by longline fishing. Numbers of albatrosses have declined in the past due to harvesting for feathers. Of the 22 species of albatrosses recognised by the IUCN, 21 are listed as at some level of concern two species are Critically Endangered, seven species are Endangered, six species are Vulnerable, and six species are Near Threatened. A Laysan albatross, named Wisdom, on Midway Island is the oldest-known wild bird in the world she was first banded in 1956 by Chandler Robbins. A breeding season can take over a year from laying to fledging, with a single egg laid in each breeding attempt. Pair bonds between males and females form over several years, with the use of "ritualised dances", and last for the life of the pair. Albatrosses are colonial, nesting for the most part on remote oceanic islands, often with several species nesting together. They feed on squid, fish, and krill by either scavenging, surface seizing, or diving. The albatrosses are usually regarded as falling into four genera, but disagreement exists over the number of species.Īlbatrosses are highly efficient in the air, using dynamic soaring and slope soaring to cover great distances with little exertion. Albatrosses are among the largest of flying birds, and species of the genus Diomedea ( great albatrosses) have the longest wingspans of any extant birds, reaching up to 3.7 m (12 ft). They are absent from the North Atlantic, although fossil remains show they once occurred there and occasional vagrants are found. They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific. Global range density (in red) Īlbatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). Short-tailed albatross ( Phoebastria albatrus)
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