The "slowest bird" may not fly first, but it may have the longest wings

Albatross, also known as sea mandarin duck, belongs to the order Spathiformes, family Albatross, with a total of 4 genera and 21 species; 17 of them are distributed in the Southern Hemisphere waters from 25° south latitude to the ice floes; 3 species (short-tailed albatross, black-footed albatross and Laysan albatross) live in the North Pacific, and there is another species: the wandering albatross, which lives in the Galapagos Islands and the coast of Antarctica.

Albatrosses are loyal love birds. Once a pair of spouses establish a relationship, they will stay together for life until one of them dies. Albatrosses lay only one egg each year between September and November. Both parents help incubate the egg, which takes about 68-71 days. The chicks will molt 120-130 days after birth. Albatrosses can live for more than 70 years, but they reproduce very slowly, which makes them one of the endangered species in the world. In addition, adult albatrosses will also migrate for a long time, traveling back and forth between breeding grounds and foraging areas. This spectacular migration scene not only reflects the albatross' high adaptability to the living environment, but is also one of the most beautiful life movements in nature.

Albatrosses are the longest-winged birds in the world and are also one of the best gliders. They usually behave very docilely on the shore, so they are called "dumb gulls" or "stupid birds". But when there is wind, they can stay in the air for several hours without flapping their wings. However, if there is no wind, it is difficult for albatrosses to fly into the sky, and they will float on the water most of the time.

After continuous efforts, their ancestors finally evolved a special flying technique. The trick is to fly over the sea with the help of the sea breeze, and use the power generated by gliding downhill to help themselves "rush" uphill to maintain a longer flight time. This is how the albatross spreads its light wings and soars in the sky with the sea breeze. Because the flying time is very long every day, how do wandering albatrosses sleep? Researchers monitored the sleep of wandering albatrosses through miniature EEG equipment and GPS tracking. The results show that when wandering albatrosses are tired at night, they stop on the sea to sleep.

They spend a lot of time flying to find food, usually cephalopods, krill, crabs and other crustaceans. The water layer where they feed is usually very shallow, and they can also grab them directly from the air with their mouths. Studies have found that nearly half of the food of wandering albatrosses is found by their keen sense of smell. It is not easy to see food directly in the vast ocean.

However, because the smell is diffused downwind, the wandering albatross needs to face the wind sideways and use a zigzag reciprocating flight to search and approach the food it smells. In the Antarctic Convergence Zone where warm and cold waters meet, the upwelling and mixed seawater provides a lot of food for the wandering albatross, and they just need to feed along the westerly wind. However, while many species are facing the pain brought by climate change, albatrosses seem to have benefited from it: due to the strengthening and southward movement of the wind belt, the flying speed of the wandering albatross has been significantly improved, allowing them to reduce the time spent on foraging.

Wandering albatrosses do not need to drink fresh water, and all the water they take in comes from food. Of course, they will inevitably ingest a lot of sea salt. Therefore, in order to excrete this extra salt, albatrosses and many seabirds have salt glands that open into the nasal cavity on their heads. Their volume is much larger than that of the nasal glands of ordinary birds. When the salt glands are active, the salt water discharged from the nostrils of the albatross will flow down the beak to the tip of the beak.

Despite the albatross' amazing ability to survive, human activities still pose a huge threat to them. Overfishing has led to an imbalance in the food chain, plastic pollution has made it common to accidentally eat waste, and habitat destruction has put these beautiful creatures at risk of extinction. In order to ensure that the albatross population can continue to reproduce, the international community has taken actions such as establishing protected areas, limiting fishing, and reducing marine debris. Each of us should start with ourselves, refuse to use disposable plastic products, and jointly protect every precious life on this blue planet.

References:

[1]. Chen Ting. Antarctic seabirds: beauty at the end of the world[J]. Forests and Humans. 2020.

[2]. Mo Qi. Air Traveler - Albatross[J]. China National Knowledge Infrastructure

[3]. Purple Sandpiper. Do Wandering Albatrosses Need to Sleep?[J]. Species Calendar. 2018.

[4]. Sun Jie. Wandering albatrosses change their foraging methods[J]. Ocean World