The deeper the blue of its feet — a colour produced by carotenoid pigments in its diet — the better its condition, and mates choose accordingly.
From Blue-footed Booby
It eats small fish and squid caught by plunge-diving.
From Blue-footed Booby
It lives on arid islands and rocky coasts of the tropical eastern Pacific, including the Galápagos.
From Blue-footed Booby
It lays two eggs several days apart and the elder chick always pushes the younger out of the nest within the first few days: the second egg works as insurance in case the first fails, and in more than ninety per cent of cases that insurance dies.
From Masked Booby
It plunges from more than twenty metres and enters the water at high speed: air sacs beneath the skin cushion the impact and its nostrils are closed off internally.
From Masked Booby
It breeds on remote islands throughout the tropical oceans, and the populations are so isolated that several are being studied as possible separate species.
From Masked Booby
It is the booby that comes closest inshore and the one that most often settles on ships: sailors know it well because it takes up residence on the rails and masts for days at a time.
From Brown Booby
Chicks raised on islands with rats or cats disappear almost entirely, and eradicating those predators from tropical islets has allowed rapid recolonisation.
From Brown Booby

Ecosystems