(Image via USGS)
Albatrosses are very special animals. Not only are they up there on the list of largest flying birds, they also have the largest wingspan compared to any other living animal. Albatrosses have only one mate for their lives. The male and female find each other through an intensely elaborate dance ritual that takes years to perfect. They then lay one egg only and raise the chick together. Unlike other animals, the albatross does not raise a group of young, instead choosing to focus solely on one. Albatrosses have been known to spend most of their lives in the air, only landing to mate and nest.
Scientists wanted to find out what exactly the albatross do on these long journeys gliding around in the air. Unable to follow them around in a boat all the time, they attached small, lipstick sized camera’s to the birds.
Here are the results:
(Image via PLoS One)
A: a ‘featureless’ sea, B: an iceberg encountered, C: a killer whale breaking the ocean surface, apparent from its dorsal fin (white arrow) and three black-browed albatrosses attracted to the whale, D: two albatrosses flying in association with the camera-mounted bird, E: a fisheries vessel in the distance (white arrow) with an aggregation of birds, F: a bright light source during the night, possibly a vessel or the moon.
Amazing perspectives! It’s great that through the pursuit of scientific research, art is created along the way.
(via TreeHugger via PLoS One)
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