It can glide thousands of kilometres with barely a wingbeat thanks to dynamic soaring: it exploits the difference in wind speed between the water's surface and fifteen metres up, and a tendon locks the outstretched wing without any muscular effort.
From Southern Royal Albatross
The colony at Taiaroa Head in New Zealand is the only great albatross colony in the world on the mainland and open to the public, and it has been monitored continuously since 1938.
From Southern Royal Albatross
It can live for several decades and pairs monogamously for life, performing elaborate synchronised courtship rituals that are repeated every breeding season.
From Black-browed Albatross
Its recovery is one of the best pieces of news in recent marine conservation: it went from Endangered in 2003 to Least Concern in 2013 thanks to bird-scaring lines, weighted hooks and night setting on longlines.
From Black-browed Albatross
An individual called Albert has been turning up every spring for more than three decades at a gannet colony in Scotland, thousands of kilometres from his own species, in search of a mate he will never find.
From Black-browed 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.
From Wandering Albatross
It eats cephalopods — squid above all — along with small fish and crustaceans taken at the surface.
From Wandering Albatross
It breeds every other year rather than annually, laying a single egg.
From Wandering Albatross

Ecosystems

See every species group · Explore the species one by one