Some people say that they are "stupid birds", others say that they are "stupid gulls", but more people think that they are the most loyal birds to "love", the most caring birds, the greatest "pilots". This is the protagonist of our article today: the albatross.
But are they really loyal? Can it really be called the greatest "pilot"? In this article, you'll learn about the bird and find answers to your questions, though it may be different from what you originally thought.
Albatross is the collective name for all birds of the family Albatross under the order Hù, which generally refers to birds that fly and hunt in the deep sea all year round, and only land eggs to breed offspring during the breeding season. Albatrosses are one of the four families under the order Grebe, but they are the largest storkbirds in the world.
There are slight differences in appearance and body size between different species of albatrosses. But their beaks are large, strong, and sharp, with a large hook at the end and two long tubular nostrils on either side of the beak.
Albatrosses generally weigh about 8 kilograms and have a body length of about 100 centimeters. Among them, the Royal Albatross and the Wandering Albatross can weigh more than 11 kilograms and have a wingspan of up to 3.5 meters or more, which also makes them the largest birds in the world.
The albatross deserves to be called the greatest "pilot". They are the best flying birds in the world. Data show that albatrosses can fly up to 15,000 kilometers a way, and they can circumnavigate the earth in 46 days. It can fly 80,000 kilometers without touching the ground and glide hundreds of kilometers without flapping its wings.
It is understood that some albatrosses will fly around the Southern Ocean three times in a year, with a mileage of more than 120,000 kilometers. For example, an albatross has a general lifespan of 50-60 years, while an albatross that lives to be 50 years old is estimated to have a total flight distance of at least 6 million kilometers, which is enough to travel to and from the moon 8 times.
How did these great "pilots" do they not need land to survive at sea? How can they fly so far?
In fact, albatrosses, like many long-winged seabirds, fly long distances by power gliding and slope gliding. These two flight methods are amazingly used by albatrosses, not only allowing them to fly nearly 1,000 kilometers a day without flapping their wings. It also allows them to fly forward about 22 meters for every meter they fall.
Not only that, but albatrosses can also take advantage of their unique "shoulder lock" (a layer of tendons that lock their wings when fully unfolded), the alternating rest of the left and right brains, and fly while the wings remain stretched without expending any muscle energy!
How do albatrosses survive at sea without fresh water? This is mainly due to the special tubular nose of albatrosses and birds of the order Grebe. Albatrosses drink seawater and eat marine life all year round, and they must excrete excess salt that their bodies consume.
Almost all birds have two nostrils in front of their eyes, and the nasal glands extend all the way to the bottom of the mouth. It is this gland in the order Grebe that acts as a "salt gland" that excretes salt.
Researchers aren't sure how it works, but what's certain is that albatrosses can remove salt from their bodies by secreting or forcibly squirting salt water in about 5 percent from their nostrils.
Not only that, but the albatross tubular nose has a strong sense of smell, and unlike most birds that rely on vision for food, albatrosses can find potential food through a sensitive sense of smell.
And their tubular nostrils can also measure accurate flight speed, which is similar to the function of airspeed tubes on modern aircraft, and is also an important reliance on the albatross to achieve power gliding.
Through the above analysis, it is not difficult to see that the flight ability of the albatross is indeed extraordinary. So is it loyal to love, and does it care for the family?
It has long been believed that albatrosses have been loyal and inseparable from their partners throughout their lives. No matter how far you fly, you will always remember the way home, and every year you will come home on time, first come home patiently waiting for the other half to return, and then breed and raise the next generation together.
Isn't that too beautiful? Is that really the case in reality?
In reality, albatrosses are very family-loving, not only adult albatrosses almost have fixed nests, but even many newly adults will return to their birthplaces to continue to breed the next generation.
Even in a study of black-backed albatrosses, the average distance from the time its parents hatched its nest to where it grew up to build a nest to breed, was only 22 meters. And this ability to go home seems to require no learning, and has become part of their lives as a genetic code.
In reality, albatrosses are also romantic, young albatrosses will survive at sea for about 5 years and then enter the mature stage, but they may have a period of several years of mate selection, and every breeding season they will return to land to "sing and dance" until the two birds finally establish a husband and wife relationship.
And since then, every year to the breeding season, both husband and wife who have lived outside for a year will go home to complete the breeding, and the one who returns to the nest first will only wait for the partner to return, which may be a few days, may be months, or may not wait...
When partners return, even after nearly a year of separation, they will still recognize each other when they meet. Then they began to sort each other's feathers, hug each other's necks, and began to multiply for another year.
Generally albatrosses breed when they are 6-10 years old, and their relationship can last a lifetime until one of them dies. However, not all albatrosses are absolutely loyal, and researchers have conducted large-scale paternity tests on albatrosses and found that as many as 10% of albatrosses have deceived each other. Of course, this is already rare in most birds.