Peruvian Pelican

• It split from the brown pelican only 0.64-1.54 million years ago, through partial oceanographic barriers (the Humboldt and Equatorial currents) combined with different selective regimes.
• Although its range overlaps widely with that of the brown pelican, the two do not hybridise: one of the arguments that led to it being recognised as a species of its own.
• Fledglings have been documented attacking and eating unrelated younger birds of their own species.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat and environment

The Pacific coast of South America, breeding in loose colonies from central Chile to Piura, in northern Peru. It reaches the Beagle Channel in the south and occurs as a vagrant in Argentina, mainly on Andean lakes

Birth weight

Altricial: born blind, naked or with sparse down and entirely dependent

Size at birth

Altricial: born blind, naked or with sparse down and entirely dependent

Sexual maturity

3-4 years

Gestation / incubation

~30 days of incubation

Litter / clutch size

2-3 eggs per clutch

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List · BirdLife DataZone · Ministerio del Medio Ambiente de Chile (RCE, 15.º proceso) · Jaramillo 2007 · Kennedy et al. 2013, Journal of Avian Biology 44(3) · Daigre, Arce y Simeone 2012, Wilson Journal of Ornithology 124(3) · Molina 1782

Best time: All year round on the Pacific coasts of Peru and Chile

The pins mark the parks and dive sites where its presence is documented.