Horned Puffin

• It grows a small fleshy horn above each eye in the breeding season.
• It can delay fertilisation of the egg after mating on land.
• It is vulnerable to oil spills despite its favourable conservation status.
• anatomíaIt can hold several small fish in its bill at once, thanks to backward-pointing spines on the palate and tongue that stop the catch slipping out while it goes on fishing.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - pneumatised bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat & environment

Rocky coasts and islands of the North Pacific, from Alaska and British Columbia to Siberia, wintering out at sea

Birth weight

Exact weight at hatching not found as a precise figure

Size at birth

Altricial, unable to regulate its body temperature until it is over a week old

Sexual maturity

Not precisely known (maturity comes after several years at sea, before it returns to breed)

Gestation / incubation

38-43 days (average 40 days)

Litter / clutch size

1 egg per clutch

Sources consulted: SeaLifeBase; NHPBS NatureWorks; Animal Diversity Web; A-Z Animals; AnimalHub; Encyclopedia of Puget Sound; U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; PBS Nature

Best time: From May to August at the colonies in Alaska, the Aleutians and Kamchatka; the rest of the year it is pelagic and is not seen from land.