Birds · Pelecaniformes · Pelecanidae

Great White Pelican

Pelecanus onocrotalus

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

A very large bird with white plumage, a long neck and bill and an extensible yellow gular pouch. The wings are broad, with black tips and trailing edge. It flies slowly, with its neck drawn back in an S like a heron's. There is no sexual dimorphism in the plumage.

Weight

10 kg – 20 kg

Size

1.4 m – 1.6 m

Diet

Piscivore

Feeds mainly on fish.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

Colony

Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

Piscivore Diurnal Colonial Bird

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Fun facts

anatomíaIt can hold several litres of water and fish in the elastic pouch of its lower bill, draining the water off before swallowing the catch.
It is one of the widest-winged birds in the world, at up to 3.6 m from wingtip to wingtip.
It is the type species of the genus Pelecanus, described by Linnaeus in 1758.
It shares its habitat with the pink-backed pelican, from which it is told by being larger and white rather than greyish.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat & environment: Large wetlands, lakes and deltas of Africa, south-eastern Europe and western Asia
Sexual maturity: 3.5 years

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List; Wikipedia (Pelecanus onocrotalus); Animalia.bio; Animal Diversity Web (Fawkes); Linnaeus 1758