Featured Species: Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans Quick Facts: Population: 21,000 pairs Location: Southern Seas Wingspan: 11 feet Weight: 18 pounds Diet: Squid and fish Nests: Mounds of mud and grass Most famous and largest of the albatrosses, the "wanderer" roams the Southern Ocean. They often follow visiting ships, wheeling and floating hypnotically at a distance for hours at a time. Effortlessly gliding on the wind, they are capable of round trips of thousands of kilometers over several days. They swoop low over ocean swells, dipping down when the sea falls and rising when the wave rises. Their wings are capable of "locking" into an extended position, thereby reducing strain over long flights. Albatrosses can live to be 80 - 85 years old and they mate for life. Once they leave the nest they may not return to land again for 7 to 10 years when they return to the island where they were born. They have a white head, neck and body, a wedge-shaped tail, and a large pink beak. Plumage varies through its life, from dark brown in the first year to almost fully white in old age.

Did you know? Albatrosses spend the better part of their lives on the wing, gliding and circling the wind systems of the Southern Ocean. There is thought to be a total of 750,000 breeding pairs of the 13 species of these massive birds. Adult Albatrosses share incubation, brooding and feeding of the single chick. Adults have been recorded flying up to 550 miles per day at speeds of 50 mph, and in a single foraging flight they can cover an incredible 1800 to 9300 miles, a distance greater than the diameter of the earth. Albatross mortality is high in the first year, but those which survive often surpass 50 years, making them one of the most well-travelled animals in the world. In today's world, their main threat is being snared in gill-nets and caught on longline hooks. In folklore the Albatross carried the soul of dead mariners. Should a sailor kill the bird, bad luck would fall upon him for the rest of his natural life. This belief was not universally held, as Albatross feet were once used as tobacco pouches.