One of the 5 albatrosses on WAnimals
Birds · Procellariiformes · Diomedeidae
Southern Royal Albatross
Diomedea epomophora
Vulnerable
At high risk of extinction in the wild over the medium term.
The southern royal albatross is one of the two birds with the greatest wingspan in the world, alongside the wandering albatross: it exceeds three metres from wingtip to wingtip. It breeds every two years on the New Zealand subantarctic islands, and one exceptional colony has established itself on the mainland, at Taiaroa Head near Dunedin. It glides for weeks over the Southern Ocean with barely a wingbeat, using the wind gradient above the waves.
Weight
7.7 kg – 10.3 kg
Size
1.1 m – 1.2 m
Life expectancy
60 years
