Albatrosses

Alex Re

Hello, welcome to on wildlife. I'm your host, Alex Ray. On this podcast, we bring the wild to you, we take you on a journey into the life of a different animal every week. And I guarantee you, you're gonna come out of here knowing more about your favorite animal than you did before. This episode, we're talking about one of the most majestic and mystical birds in the world. They have some of the largest wingspans of any bird and can spend weeks out at the open ocean without even seeing land. Their numbers are also dwindling, which is why it's really important that we talk about them. So let's hop on a ship because we're heading to the oceans to talk about albatrosses.

There are 22 different species of albatross in the world. And these birds are amazing. If you haven't seen one, you should definitely take a look at our Instagram at on wildlife. albatrosses are pelagic birds, meaning they spend most of their lives away from land. So they're flying a lot, which means they need to use a lot of energy. They have some really cool ways of saving energy, and I'm gonna explain that later on in the episode. They're also usually found near colder ocean waters in the southern hemisphere, and also in the North Pacific Ocean. What's weird is that they're not found in the North Atlantic Ocean. And we do have fossil evidence that shows that they did live there at some point. However, the Galapagos albatross is the only member of the family that is found in the tropics. And there's an interesting reason why they usually like to live near colder oceans, and I'll talk about that later on in the episode to albatrosses are also known for their insanely large wingspan. They're actually the largest group of birds on earth. And their wingspan can be anywhere from six and a half to 11 feet long. And the wandering albatross is the largest of the 22 different species. Even though they have large wingspans, they're pretty light, they can weigh up to 22 pounds. Their wingspan is long, but so is their lifespan. These birds can live up to 50 years old. In fact, the oldest bird ever is a Laysan albatross, her name is wisdom, and she was first marked in 1956, and was estimated to be around five years old at that time, that makes her at least 70 years old. Now, this means that wisdom is as old as Dr. Phil, Stevie Wonder and Bill Murray. And if you watch an albatross, they're almost like these mystical creatures. And that's often how they've been viewed by people throughout history. They're highly respected in a lot of different cultures. And some cultures even believe that albatrosses are the souls of lost sailors. You can see albatrosses mentioned in the famous poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and indigenous people have also relied on them for food. Speaking of food, what do albatrosses eat, and why do they have such a long wingspan? You'll find all this out and more after the break.

The person I want to recognize in today's episode of notable figures in science is Dr. Katie Baumann. She got her doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT. She also led the creation of an algorithm called chirp on the event horizon imaging team. And probably what she's best known for is being a significant part of a team that took the first ever image of a black hole in 2019. Currently, she's a professor at Caltech, Dr. Baumann helped break the stereotypes of who was scientist could be, and she's only 32 years old. If you want to learn more about Dr. Bauman, or this series in general, check out on wildlife.org.

Okay, we're back. albatrosses don't have a lot of natural predators. They're mainly hunted by Tiger sharks and humans. Tiger Sharks usually go after the young when they're learning how to fly. And basically what happens is young albatrosses practice flying over water, but sometimes they can get tired and fall into the water. When their feathers get wet, it makes it really hard for them to get out of the water and take flight again. And that's the perfect opportunity for Tiger Sharks to swim by and eat them. That's pretty sad stuff. But they're an important food source for these sharks. And because albatrosses are constantly over the ocean, they don't get much access to fresh water, and that's why they drink salt water. Unlike humans, where sea water makes you more dehydrated, albatrosses and other marine birds, like pelicans, seagulls and penguins have a built in desalination filter. They have glands connected to their bills. So that they can get rid of the excess salt. And this is how they're able to eat their prey because their prey are equally as salty as the salt water. They feed primarily on squid fish and fish eggs. They catch their prey by sitting on the surface of the water and plunging their head underneath. And when they combine this strategy with their extremely long bill, which can grow up to seven inches long, it makes them extremely successful hunters. Remember when I was talking about how they like colder waters? Well, it has to do with food availability, it all comes down to a process called upwelling. Basically, what happens during upwelling is strong winds start pushing water at the top of the ocean. And when this happens, it causes deeper water, which is usually colder to rise to the surface. And this cold water has a lot more nutrients than the water that was originally on the top. This attracts a bunch of different organisms and brings more food to the albatrosses and albatrosses don't just rely on seeing to catch their prey. They also use their nose, which helps them find phytoplankton. phytoplankton are autotrophic plankton, meaning that they make their own food. And as a byproduct of when they're making their own food. They release a chemical called dimethyl sulfide. albatrosses use airborne dimethyl sulfide as a wind map that they can follow to find their food. And they don't actually eat the plankton but their prey does. And how do we know that they're really good at using their sense of smell? Well, we can look at their olfactory bulb. The olfactory bulb is a part of the brain that assists in smell. Not all birds have an incredible sense of smell, like songbirds, who only have 3% of their brain dedicated to smell, but albatrosses and other seabirds have olfactory bulbs that take up 37% of their brains. Now, not all species of albatross use the same techniques, some can dive into the water to find their prey, and they can also use humans to get their food. Like seagulls though much less annoying. They follow shifts so that they can eat what we throw away. Like I talked about earlier, albatrosses spent most of their time flying above the ocean. But there is one thing that brings them back to land. They really only come on land to breed, and they like to stay in remote islands far from the mainland or any people. They can form huge groups on land having 1000s of individuals, and for the most part, they're monogamous, meaning that they mate for life. They also practice by parental care, which is exactly what it sounds like. Both parents take care of the egg and the baby. And like a lot of other seabirds, albatrosses have a really cool mating ritual that involves dancing. When albatrosses reach maturity at around six years old, they participate in a period of searching for a mate known as spring break. And I'm not even making that up. Groups of six or more birds gathered to dance and socialize, and this is a way for them to get to know each other.

The meeting dance is a combination of movement and singing. Their sounds could be whistles, grunts and clacking their beaks together so that it sounds like drum rolls. The movement aspect of the ritual includes bobbing their head, pointing their beak to the sky, and tucking their head underneath their wings. The breeding cycle takes almost an entire year to complete and it happens every other year. And unlike a lot of other bird nests, there's really nothing to write home about. They usually either make a small hole in the ground or a cone out of mud. The female makes one egg and then the parents take turns caring for the egg. There are incubation ranges from 70 to 80 days, and the parents will switch off anywhere from several days or weeks at a time. After the egg hatches, the parents take turns brooding the chick, meaning that they'll pluck some of the feathers from their chest and abdomen and use that heat to warm the chicks. And both parents also help feed the chick. It gets fed increasing amounts of food in bouts separated by several days. And like most birds, albatross chicks are fed by their parents regurgitating food into their mouth, which includes a combination of freshly caught or digested prey. This may seem gross, but it's rich in fats and other nutrients that the chick needs to survive. And baby albatrosses are really quick learners. They fly within the first three to 10 months of birth, and then they leave land for five to 10 years before they reach sexual maturity. Now, we've talked a lot about how they can spend extremely long amounts of time without ever going on land. But how did they do this? Well, their wingspan is huge, which gives them a really great advantage. Larger wings allow birds to have more lift. This means that as their wings move through the air, a force lifts up the wings from underneath the bird. This is the same way that we're able to get huge airplanes to fly. But if you've ever seen their wings before, you'll notice that they're really long but kind of slender, and they're definitely not bulky. This also plays a really important part in their ability to fly, because it reduces the amount of turbulence that the albatrosses have to face. So the combination of these two things allows them to glide for hours in the sky without resting or even flapping their wings. They're so well adapted for long amounts of flight that they can actually sleep while flying. albatrosses can also achieve really high flight speeds, while using only a little more energy than birds resting on land. Because albatrosses can fly for hours at a time, they need to use their energy efficiently. And they do this by using wind patterns. They live in some of the windiest areas on earth, and they use that wind to guide their flight. They do something called dynamic soaring, which is basically constantly moving up and down in the air in order to catch the wind, and staying in the air is extremely important for them, because floating on the seas surface can make them vulnerable to marine predators like sharks and dolphins. Now, one of the biggest problems that albatrosses are facing today is mice. But why is that? Well, we'll get to that right after the break.

Time for today's trivia question, which makes a greater impact on distributing heat throughout the earth, the ocean or the atmosphere?

The answer is the ocean. Ocean currents are like conveyor belts that move warm water to polar regions and cold water to tropical regions, which then evaporates cooling and heating the atmosphere and climate. Speaking of the ocean, plastic pollution in our oceans is causing some serious damage to marine life. You may not think about it, but your phone case contributes to that. That's why I have to recommend buying a pelican case. They're 100% compostable, and there's so much better for the environment than other plastic phone cases. They also have really cool designs on them. I absolutely recommend buying one. And if you do, you should use the link in the description of the episode or on on wildlife.org. Not only does using Pella cases help the environment, but it also supports the podcast with every purchase using the link.

Okay, we're back. All species of albatrosses are facing extinction. Most are labeled as threatened, but some are endangered or critically endangered. This is partially because they don't reproduce that often. And when they do, they usually only produce one offspring, but they also have a high mortality rate. And why is this? It's mostly because of fishing activity. It's been found that albatross species that live near large scale fisheries tend to have a higher mortality rate. And this is because adult albatrosses tend to get caught and killed in fishing gear. For example, the Amsterdam albatross began to recover its population in 1985, but it slowed down because of a Japanese Southern blue tuna fishery. But that's not the end of their problems. A seabird researcher found that supersized mice were killing and eating the chicks and adults on these specific islands. The albatrosses are critically endangered. Those two species are the tristin albatross and the Atlantic yellow nosed albatross. These mice are an invasive species introduced on the islands by settlers in the early 18th century. And they can kill birds up to 300 times their size. The mice eat the birds alive. They nibble on the adults while they're incubating their egg, and they don't even know how to react because they've never had to defend themselves like this before. On go Island, it's estimated that 2 million chicks are lost every year due to mouse attacks. And believe it or not, it gets worse. Because adult albatrosses meet multiple times throughout their lives. their deaths are much more detrimental to the population. But why are these mice eating birds way up the food chain and much bigger than themselves? Well, they're desperate. These mice typically eat insects, but in the winter when there's no more resources, they attack the albatrosses which meet on the ground and in winter, the perfect victim. These mice will need to be stopped or the Tristen albatross and the Atlantic yellow nosed albatross will become extinct. Thankfully, there are some organizations that are working to help the albatross that you should definitely go check out. Take a look at the world sustainability organization and they have a specific project entitled save the albatross. A cap The RSPB. Thank you so much for coming on this adventure with me as we explore the world of albatrosses. You can find the sources that we use for this podcast and links to organizations that we reference at on wildlife.org. You can also email us with any questions at on wildlife. dot podcast@gmail.com. You can also follow us on Instagram at on underscore wildlife or on tik tok at on wildlife. Don't forget to tune in next Wednesday for another awesome episode. And that's on wildlife.

Jess Avellino

You've been listening to on wildlife with Alex re brought to you every Wednesday.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai