Wandering Albatross

• It pairs monogamously for life and can cover more than 10,000 km a year without ever returning to land outside the breeding season.
• It eats cephalopods — squid above all — along with small fish and crustaceans taken at the surface.
• It breeds every other year rather than annually, laying a single egg.
• anatomíaIt has the largest wingspan of any living bird, over 3 metres, and can cover thousands of kilometres with barely a wingbeat.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - pneumatised bony skeleton (bird), the largest wingspan in the world

Habitat & environment

Southern and subantarctic oceans across the southern hemisphere; nests on remote subantarctic islands

Birth weight

Weight at hatching not found as a precise figure

Size at birth

Downy on hatching and wholly dependent

Sexual maturity

~10 years (female sexual maturity given as ~3,671 days)

Gestation / incubation

56-80 days depending on the source

Litter / clutch size

1 egg per clutch, breeding every 2 years rather than every year

Sources consulted: Dimensions.com; A-Z Animals; AnAge (genomics.senescence.info); Birds.com; Animal Diversity Web; South Dakota Birds; Birds in Backyards; Birds of the World; PMC (partner foraging coordination study, oxidative stress study)

Best time: From December to March at the subantarctic colonies; on the open sea it can be seen all year round following the wake of ships.