albatross

Etymology

The name "Albatross" is derived from the Arabic al-qādūs القادوس or al-ḡaṭṭās الغطاس (a pelican; literally, "the diver"), which travelled to English via the Portuguese form Alcatraz القطرس ("gannet"), which is also the origin of the name of the former prison Alcatraz. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that the word Alcatraz was originally applied to the frigatebird; the modification to albatross was perhaps influenced by Latin Albus, meaning "white", in contrast to frigatebirds, which are black.

They were once commonly known as goonie birds or gooney birds, particularly those of the North Pacific. In the Southern Hemisphere, the name mollymawk is still well established in some areas, which is a corrupted form of malle-mugge, an old Dutch name for the northern fulmar. The name Diomedea, assigned to the albatrosses by Linnaeus, references the mythical metamorphosis of the companions of the Greek warrior Diomedes into birds. Finally, the name for the order, Procellariiformes, comes from the Latin word procella meaning "a violent wind" or "a storm".

Taxonomy and evolution

The "albatross" designation comprises between 13 and 24 species (the number is still a matter of some debate, with 21 being the most commonly accepted number) in four genera. These genera are the great albatrosses (Diomedea), the mollymawks (Thalassarche), the North Pacific albatrosses (Phoebastria), and the sooty albatrosses or sooties (Phoebetria). The North Pacific albatrosses are considered to be a sister taxon to the great albatrosses, while the sooty albatrosses are considered closer to the mollymawks.

The taxonomy of the albatross group has been a source of much debate. The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy places seabirds, birds of prey, and many others in a greatly enlarged order, the Ciconiiformes, whereas the ornithological organisations in North America, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand retain the more traditional order Procellariiformes. The albatrosses can be separated from the other Procellariiformes both genetically and through morphological characteristics, size, their legs, and the arrangement of their nasal tubes (see below: Morphology and flight).

Within the family, the assignment of genera has been debated for over 100 years. Originally placed into a single genus, Diomedea, they were rearranged by Reichenbach into four different genera in 1852, then lumped back together and split apart again several times, acquiring 12 different genus names in total (though never more than eight at one time) by 1965 (Diomedea, Phoebastria, Thalassarche, Phoebetria, Thalassageron, Diomedella, Nealbatrus, Rhothonia, Julietata, Galapagornis, Laysanornis, and Penthirenia).

By 1965, in an attempt to bring some order back to the classification of albatrosses, they were lumped into two genera, Phoebetria (the sooty albatrosses, which most closely seemed to resemble the procellarids and were at the time considered "primitive" ) and Diomedea (the rest). Though a case was made for the simplification of the family (particularly the nomenclature), the classification was based on the morphological analysis by Elliott Coues in 1866, and paid little attention to more recent studies and even ignored some of Coues's suggestions.

Research by Gary Nunn of the American Museum of Natural History (1996) and other researchers around the world studied the mitochondrial DNA of all 14 accepted species, finding four, not two, monophyletic groups within the albatrosses. They proposed the resurrection of two of the old genus names, Phoebastria for the North Pacific albatrosses and Thalassarche for the mollymawks, with the great albatrosses retaining Diomedea and the sooty albatrosses staying in Phoebetria.

Morphology and flight

The albatrosses are a group of large to very large birds; they are the largest of the Procellariiformes. The bill is large, strong, and sharp-edged, with the upper mandible terminating in a large hook. This bill is composed of several horny plates, and along the sides are the two "tubes", long nostrils that give the order its former name (Tubinares, or tubenoses). The tubes of all albatrosses are along the sides of the bill, unlike the rest of the Procellariiformes, where the tubes run along the top of the bill.

Albatrosses, along with all Procellariiformes, must excrete the salts they ingest in drinking sea water and eating marine invertebrates. All birds have an enlarged nasal gland at the base of the bill, above their eyes. This gland is inactive in species that do not require it, but in the Procellariiformes, it acts as a salt gland. Scientists are uncertain as to its exact processes, but do know in general terms that it removes salt by secreting a 5% saline solution that drips out of the nose tubes or is forcibly ejected.

Like other Procellariiformes, they use their uniquely developed sense of smell to locate potential food sources, whereas most birds depend on eyesight.

The feet have no hind toe and the three anterior toes are completely webbed. The legs are strong for the Procellariiformes, making them and the giant petrels the only members of that order that can walk well on land.

The adult plumage of most of the albatrosses is usually some variation of dark upper-wing and back with white undersides, often compared to that of a gull. The extent of colouration varies: the southern royal albatross is almost completely white except for the ends and trailing edges of the wings in fully mature males, while the Amsterdam albatross has an almost juvenile-like breeding plumage with a great deal of brown, particularly a strong brown band around the chest. Several species of mollymawks and North Pacific albatrosses have face markings like eye patches or have grey or yellow on the head and nape. Three albatross species, the black-footed albatross and the two sooty albatrosses, vary completely from the usual patterns and are almost entirely dark brown (or dark grey in places in the case of the light-mantled albatross). Albatrosses take several years to get their full adult breeding plumage.

Distribution and range at sea

Most albatrosses range in the Southern Hemisphere from Antarctica to Australia, South Africa, and South America. The exceptions to this are the four North Pacific albatrosses, of which three occur exclusively in the North Pacific, from Hawaii to Japan, California, and Alaska; and one, the waved albatross, breeds in the Galápagos Islands and feeds off the coast of South America. The need for wind to enable gliding is the reason albatrosses are for the most part confined to higher latitudes; being unsuited to sustained flapping flight makes crossing the doldrums extremely difficult. The exception, the waved albatross, is able to live in the equatorial waters around the Galápagos Islands because of the cool waters of the Humboldt Current and the resulting winds.

Why the albatrosses became extinct in the North Atlantic is not currently known to researchers, although rising sea levels due to an interglacial warming period are thought to have submerged the site of a short-tailed albatross colony that has been excavated in Bermuda. Some southern species have occasionally turned up as vagrants in the North Atlantic and can become exiled, remaining there for decades. One of these exiles, a black-browed albatross named Albert has been observed travelling to gannet colonies in Scotland for at least 50 years in an attempt to breed. Another black-browed albatross nicknamed Albie has been frequently observed across Northern Europe since 2014, and is also believed to be searching for a mate, having been recorded from Germany, Scandinavia and RSPB Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire, England.

The use of satellite tracking is teaching scientists a great deal about the way albatrosses range across the ocean to find food. They undertake no annual migration, but disperse widely after breeding; Southern Hemisphere species often undertake circumpolar trips. Evidence also exists of separate ranges for different species at sea. A comparison of the foraging niches of two related species that breed on Campbell Island, the Campbell albatross and the grey-headed albatross, showed the Campbell albatross primarily fed over the Campbell Plateau, whereas the grey-headed albatross fed in more pelagic, oceanic waters. Wandering albatrosses also react strongly to bathymetry, feeding only in waters deeper than 1,000 metres (3,000 ft); so rigidly did the satellite plots match this contour that one scientist remarked, "It almost appears as if the birds notice and obey a 'No Entry' sign where the water shallows to less than 1000 (metres)". Also, evidence shows different ranges for the two sexes of the same species; a study of Tristan albatrosses breeding on Gough Island showed that males foraged to the west of Gough and females to the east.

Ecology

Diet

The albatross diet is predominantly cephalopods such as squid, fish, crustaceans such as krill, other zooplankton, and offal (organ meat); much of their food is taken near the surface, and often include floating carrion. For most species, a comprehensive understanding of diet is known for only the breeding season, when the albatrosses regularly return to land and study is possible. The importance of each of these food sources varies from species to species, and even from population to population; some concentrate on squid alone, others take more krill or fish. Of the two albatross species found in Hawaii, one, the black-footed albatross, takes mostly fish, while the Laysan feeds on squid.

The use of data loggers at sea that record ingestion of water against time (providing a likely time of feeding) suggests that albatrosses predominantly feed during the day. Analysis of the squid beaks regurgitated by albatrosses has shown that many of the squid eaten are too large to have been caught alive, and include midwater species likely to be beyond the reach of albatross, suggesting that, for some species (like the wandering albatross), scavenged squid may be an important part of the diet. Across the studied species, squid from the genera Galiteuthis, Histioteuthis, Illex, Kondakovia, Martialia, and Psychroteuthis made up the highest dietary proportions of various albatross species. The source of these dead squid is a matter of debate; some certainly comes from squid fisheries, but in nature it primarily comes from the die-off that occurs after squid spawning and the vomit of squid-eating whales (sperm whales, pilot whales, and southern bottlenose whales). The diet of other species, like the black-browed albatross or the grey-headed albatross, is rich with smaller species of squid that tend to sink after death, and scavenging is not assumed to play a large role in their diet. The waved albatross has been observed practising kleptoparasitism, harassing boobies to steal their food, making it the only member of its order to do so regularly.

Until recently, albatrosses were thought to be predominantly surface feeders, swimming at the surface and snapping up squid and fish pushed to the surface by currents, predators, or death. The deployment of capillary depth recorders, which record the maximum dive depth undertaken by a bird, has shown that while some species, such as the wandering albatross, do not dive deeper than a metre, some species, such as the light-mantled albatross, have a mean diving depth of almost 5 m (16 ft) and can dive as deep as 12.5 m (41 ft). In addition to surface feeding and diving, they have also been observed plunge diving from the air to snatch prey.

Breeding and dancing

Albatrosses are colonial, usually nesting on isolated islands; where colonies are on larger landmasses, they are found on exposed headlands with good approaches from the sea in several directions, like the colony on the Otago Peninsula in Dunedin, New Zealand. Many Buller's albatrosses and black-footed albatrosses nest under trees in open forest. Colonies vary from the very dense aggregations favoured by the mollymawks (black-browed albatross colonies on the Falkland Islands have densities of 70 nests per 100 m2) to the much looser groups and widely spaced individual nests favoured by the sooty and great albatrosses. All albatross colonies are on islands that historically were free of land mammals. Albatrosses are highly philopatric, meaning they usually return to their natal colony to breed. This tendency is so strong that a study of Laysan albatrosses showed that the average distance between hatching site and the site where a bird established its own territory was 22 m (72 ft).

Albatrosses live much longer than other birds; they delay breeding for longer and invest more effort into fewer young. Most species survive upwards of 50 years, the oldest recorded being a Laysan albatross named Wisdom that was ringed in 1956 as a mature adult and hatched another chick in February 2021, making her at least 70 years old. She is the oldest confirmed wild bird and the oldest banded bird in the world.

Albatrosses reach sexual maturity slowly, after about five years, but even once they have reached maturity, they do not begin to breed for another few years (even up to 10 years for some species). Young nonbreeders attend a colony prior to beginning to breed, spending many years practising the elaborate breeding rituals and "dances" for which the family is famous. Birds arriving back at the colony for the first time already have the stereotyped behaviours that compose albatross language, but can neither "read" that behaviour as exhibited by other birds nor respond appropriately.

The repertoire of behaviour involves synchronised performances of various actions such as preening, pointing, calling, bill clacking, staring, and combinations of such behaviours (such as the sky-call).

Albatrosses are held to undertake these elaborate and painstaking rituals to ensure that the appropriate partner has been chosen and to perfect partner recognition, as egg laying and chick rearing is a huge investment. Even species that can complete an egg-laying cycle in under a year seldom lay eggs in consecutive years. The great albatrosses (i.e., wandering albatross) take over a year to raise a chick from laying to fledging. Albatrosses lay a single subelliptical egg, white with reddish-brown spots, in a breeding season; if the egg is lost to predators or accidentally broken, then no further breeding attempts are made that year. The larger eggs weigh from 200 to 510 g (7.1 to 18.0 oz). The "divorce" of a pair is a rare occurrence, due to the diminished lifetime reproductive success it causes, and usually happens only after several years of breeding failure.

In culture

Albatrosses are described in the Handbook of World Birds as "the most legendary of all birds". An albatross is the central emblem in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1798, representing the innocence and beauty of God's creation. The albatross metaphor is derived from this poem; someone bearing a burden or facing an obstacle is said to have "an albatross around his neck", the punishment given to the mariner who killed the albatross. A widespread myth holds that sailors believe shooting or harming an albatross is disastrous, due in part to the poem; in truth, sailors regularly killed and ate them, as reported by James Cook in 1772. However, other sailors reportedly caught the birds but let them free again, possibly believing that albatrosses were the souls of lost sailors, so killing them would bring bad luck. The head of an albatross being caught with a hook is used as the emblem of the Cape Horners, i.e., sailors who have rounded Cape Horn on freighters under sail; captains of such ships even received themselves the title "albatrosses" in the Cape Horners' organisation.

A captive albatross tormented by jeering sailors is also a metaphor for the social travails of the sensitive poète maudit in Charles Baudelaire's poem L'albatros:

In golf, shooting three under par on a single hole has been termed scoring an "albatross", as a continuation on the birdie and eagle theme.

Non-European mythologies

The Māori used the wing bones of the albatross to carve flutes. In Hawaiian religion, Laysan albatrosses are considered ʻaumakua, being a sacred manifestation of the ancestors, and quite possibly also the sacred bird of Kāne. Japanese mythology, by contrast, refers to the short-tailed albatross as ahodori, "fool bird", due to its habit of disregarding terrestrial predators, making it easy prey for feather collectors.

Birdwatching

Albatrosses are popular birds for birdwatchers, and their colonies are popular destinations for ecotourists. Regular birdwatching trips are taken out of many coastal towns and cities to see pelagic seabirds. Albatrosses are easily attracted to these sightseeing boats by the deployment of fish oil and burley into the sea. Visits to colonies can be very popular; the northern royal albatross colony at Taiaroa Head in Dunedin, New Zealand, attracts 40,000 visitors a year.

Threats and conservation

In spite of often being accorded legendary status, albatrosses have not escaped either indirect or direct pressure from humans. Early encounters with albatrosses by Polynesians and Aleuts resulted in hunting and in some cases extirpation from some islands (such as Easter Island). As Europeans began sailing the world, they, too, began to hunt albatross, "fishing" for them from boats to serve at the table or blasting them for sport. This sport reached its peak on emigration lines bound for Australia, and only died down when ships became too fast to fish from, and regulations forbade the discharge of weapons for safety reasons. In the 19th century, albatross colonies, particularly those in the North Pacific, were harvested for the feather trade, leading to the near-extinction of the short-tailed albatross.

Of the 22 albatross species recognised by IUCN on their Red List, 15 are threatened with extinction, that is, Critically Endangered (Tristan albatross and waved albatross), Endangered (7 species), or Vulnerable (6 species). Six further species are considered as Near Threatened and only one of Least Concern. One of the main threats is commercial longline fishing, as the albatrosses and other seabirds—which will readily feed on offal—are attracted to the set bait, become hooked on the lines and drown. An estimated 100,000 albatross per year are killed in this fashion. Unregulated pirate fisheries exacerbate the problem. A study showed that potentially illegal longline fishing activities are highly concentrated in areas of illegally-caught fish species, and the risk to bycatch albatrosses is significantly higher in areas where these illegal longline fishing vessels operate.

On Midway Atoll, collisions between Laysan albatrosses and aircraft have resulted in human and bird deaths, as well as severe disruptions in military flight operations. Studies were made in the late 1950s and early 1960s that examined the results of control methods such as the killing of birds, the levelling and clearing of land to eliminate updrafts, and the destruction of annual nesting sites. Tall structures such as traffic control and radio towers killed 3000 birds in flight collisions during 1964–1965 before the towers were taken down. Closure of Naval Air Facility Midway in 1993 eliminated the problem of collisions with military aircraft. By 2008, it was noted that reduction in human activity had helped reduce bird deaths, though lead paint pollution near military buildings continued to poison birds by ingestion. Albatross plumes were popular in the early 20th century. In 1909 alone, over 300,000 albatrosses were killed on Midway Island and Laysan Island for their plumes.

Species

Since 1996, albatrosses have been divided into four genera. The number of species is a matter of debate. The IUCN and BirdLife International recognise 22 extant species (listed below), ITIS recognise 21 (the 22 below minus T. steadi), and a 2004 paper proposed a reduction to 13 (indicated in parentheses below), comprising the traditional 14 species minus D. amsterdamensis.