One of the 13 cormorants on WAnimals
Birds · Suliformes · Phalacrocoracidae
Guanay Cormorant
Leucocarbo bougainvilliorum
Near Threatened
It could become threatened in the near future if current threats go unchecked.
The guanay cormorant is the guano bird par excellence and one of the most important in the economic history of Peru. It breeds in extremely dense colonies on the islands of the Humboldt Current, where it builds up guano layers tens of metres thick. Its food is almost exclusively the Peruvian anchoveta, and its population swings brutally with El Niño events, which collapse the biomass of that fish and cause mass die-offs.
Weight
1.8 kg – 2.5 kg
Size
71 cm – 76 cm
Life expectancy
15 years
