Gray Gull

• It breeds in the middle of the Atacama Desert, the most arid place on the planet, more than a hundred kilometres from the coast and on plains without a drop of water: the adults cover that distance twice a day to feed their chicks.
• Its colonies were discovered very late: for decades it was known that the species bred somewhere inland, but the first colonies were not located until well into the twentieth century.
• The eggs and chicks, exactly the colour of the desert's salt crust, are invisible from a few metres away, and the adults leave the nest as soon as they spot an intruder in the distance.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat and environment

The Pacific coast of Peru and Chile; breeds inland in the Atacama Desert

Sexual maturity

3 years

Gestation / incubation

27 days of incubation

Litter / clutch size

2 eggs

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucophaeus_modestus

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.