Oceanography: Research on the Albatross

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Oceanography basically refers to the study of animals, plants and other microscopic things which live in the oceans. The topic deals with a volume of studies ranging from physics, biology, chemistry and geography which all deal with different studies within the oceans. This research will concentrate with the biological studies of the oceans which generally refer to the study of the ecological characteristics, social and environmental interactions of the aquatic organisms in the marine. A topic of interest would be research on the Albatross (Russ & Shirihai,113).

Albatross refers to a biological family of birds that lives in the marines. They are commonly found in the Southern Ocean ranging from Australia, South America, South Africa and Antarctica. They are also present in the North Pacific region of Japan, Alaska and California. These birds fit in this region because they require the high attitudes which give them the pleasure of winds required for gliding. Fossil evidence indicates that these birds were once living in the North Atlantic region although they are no longer found in this region (Cooper, 1996).

They are the largest flying birds. The great species of these birds have the largest wingspans of the extant type of birds. In the history of their evolution, it is believed that the albatrosses existed as a single genus of the Diomedea. In 1852, a researcher is known as Reinchenbach then organized the birds in to four types of genera. These four types then came back together to give rise to 12 kinds of geneses. These 12 geneses were then regrouped into two types of the genus that were referred to as the Phoebetria and the Diomedea. The Phoebetria were considered to be primitive than the latter. In 1996, research conducted by Gary Nunn amongst other researchers indicated that there were actually four and not two types of the genus. This was concluded after they discovered the return of two more genuses (Tickell, 2).

Today most Biologists in this research field have accepted the existence of these four types of genera. These four genera’s include the Great albatrosses also known as Diomedea, Mollymawks also referred to as Thalassarche, North Pacific Albatrosses also called the phoebastria and finally the sooties or sooty Albatrosses commonly referred to as the phoebetria. The North pacific have been argued to have close genera of the great albatrosses while the Mollymawks and the sooties have been considered to be very close. The number of species has been discussed to stand between 13 and 24. The generally accepted number of species is 21 and it is feared that 19 of these species have been rendered extinct. This has resulted from the poaching of these birds for the need of their feathers for trade (Shirihai & Jarrett 133).

These types of birds are known to have very large structures that are used to support their morphology. They have very strong legs and the tree toes in their feet are all webbed. They have very long, large and strong beaks which are very sharp at the edge. The mandible on the upper part is usually hooked. The bill of the albatrosses is also made of many plates with two tubes on the sides. These tubes assist the birds to have a strong smelling sense which is a unique feature (Robertson & Nunn, 77).

The species of these birds also vary in the color of the wings depending on the species. The plumage adults usually have upper wings and the backside with a dark shade of color while the sides assume a white color. The male gull species from the Southern Royal Albatrosses have the largest parts of their bodies assuming a white color apart from the ends and edges of the wings. On the other hand, the Albatrosses from Amsterdam have a large range of brown colors in the chest. The great albatrosses have the largest of the wingspan. The wings are very thick along the edges and they are also very stiff (Tickell, 2000).

They are able to travel very long distances due to their specialized slope and soaring techniques. They are able to reduce the energy required in gliding due to their ability to cut across waves in a vertical gradient (Shirihai & Jarrett 122).

The albatrosses feed on other marine species such as fish, crustaceans and cephalopods. The birds concentrate on different types of food depending on their type of species and their population. The species normally have a specialized diet during the breeding season. The albatrosses were initially thought to be feeding on the fish and sea squids which are floating on water. However it has been proved that these birds can dive to a distance of about one meter to look for food. The light Mantles Albatrosses can actually dive below 12 meters to find food. They not only feed on the live species but they also feed on dead ones such as the dead squids (Russ & Shirihai,114).

The albatrosses are colonial birds and they like to nest in the islands that are isolated. The colonies of the albatrosses vary in the density with the Mollymawks having very dense colonies as compared to the Sooties and the great albatrosses which have very dispersed colonies. Their way of breeding is very interesting since the birds will always go back to their colonies to breed. These birds are known to survive for long periods of time as compared to the other birds. The species are known to live for more than 50 years such as the Northern Royal Albatross (Shirihai & Jarrett 136). They also take their time to breed and they concentrate more on the younger birds.

They usually have a slow rate of growth in attaining their sexual maturity. The maturity age has been estimated to around five years. The birds do not also start breeding immediately upon the maturity age. They can stay without breeding for another period of about five to ten years after the age of maturity. The young non-breeders are normally involved in learning the breeding culture and the dances that are unique in that colony. They take time to perfectly learn the language syntax of the colony and also the dances. The young birds usually spend much of their time around the older birds which are more experienced (Tickell 22).

The behaviors that are usually taught within the colonies range from the beak pointing, bill clacking, preening, calling and staring. When the birds come from training they usually gain a lot of experience from dancing with other partners in the colony and later they are paired up after a number of years. The birds are involved with intensive care in choosing these partners to ensure that the chosen partners can last forever (Robertson & Nunn, 81). The partners usually under go a series of rituals to have the perfect partners selected. The partners are then important for the egg-laying and bringing up the chicks. The albatrosses usually lay one egg in a single breeding season.

The Birds will then be responsible of talking care of the egg because if the egg breaks or eaten by the predators, the bird will not be allowed to breed again and that means no egg in that year. The partners are rarely known to separate or divorce and this can only happen if the partners are not able to breed for a period of time. The albatrosses make nests varying on size depending on the type of birds. For example the Southern albatross make very big nests while the waved albatross does not create any nests. It keeps moving its eggs around (Russ & Shirihai,117). Both the male and the female albatross are involved in incubating the egg in turns of 1 to 21 days.

The total period of incubating an egg takes between 70 and 80 days. Once the chick is brooded it is protected for 21 days when it can be able to guard itself. The chick is fed with little meals by both parents. Such meals consist of fresh fish, skills and also the squid. Other foods include the stomach oils that are easily transported from one area to another. The chicks usually take a lot of time before fledging. The chicks usually have a lot of weight which is generally used to build the body structures such as the feathers. On attaining a certain weight usually same as their parents, the chicks are able to fly without the help of their parents (Tickell 34).

The albatrosses are interesting birds owing to their specialized way of living especially their brooding behavior. It is very exiting to read on how they chose their life time partners. The birds also seem to be much disciplined in their behavior such as brooding, bring up their chicks and also maintaining the partnership between parents without divorcing. These characteristics of the albatrosses have attracted a lot of interest from human beings. The birds are especially good scenery for tourists who like bird watching. The tourists usually enjoy the beautiful scenery besides watching the distinguished behaviors of the albatrosses (Shirihai & Jarrett 146).

It is very important to have these birds within the marine science since they create a venue for adding value to knowledge through engaging in research to study about their changing behaviors across the species. It is worth noting that the birds are a source of economic value and therefore the governments in these regions should be more involved in protecting them from their predators such as rats, mice and also human poaching to avoid future extinction of the birds.

Works cited

Enticott J and Tipling D. Photographic Guide to Seabirds of the World. New Holland, London, 1997. p 3-5.

Nunn, G. B., Cooper, et al. Evolutionary relationships among extant albatrosses. Auk, 1996. p 23-44.

Robertson, C. J. R. and Nunn, G. B. Towards a new taxonomy for albatrosses. Surrey Beatty and Sons Ltd, 1998. p 76-89.

Russ, R. and Shirihai, H. The birds, marine mammals, habitat and history of the sub Antarctic islands off New Zealand. Finland, Alula press, 2000 113-119.

Shirihai, H. and Jarrett, B. A complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife: the birds and marine mammals of the Antarctic Continent and Southern Ocean. Finland, Alula Press, Degerby 2002 p 122-149.

Tickell, W. L. N. Albatrosses. Yale University Press, 2000 p. 2-34.

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Oceanography: Research on the Albatross

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