Biology

Wandering albatross pairs mate for life (5), these long-lived birds do not reach sexual maturity until 9 – 11 years of age (4). Nests are constructed from a mound of grasses and moss and a single egg is laid (2). Both parents take it in turns to incubate the egg (that hatches after two months) and then to feed the growing chick, which remains on the nest for around nine months (5). Albatrosses use their enormous wingspan to glide effortlessly on updrafts of wind, they spend the majority of their life in flight and can travel enormous distances (2); one bird was recorded to have travelled 6000 km in 12 days (5). Albatrosses feed at the surface of the water, often roosting on the surface at night (5); they take fish and cephalopods (squid), and will often follow ships feeding on the fish waste they discharge (4).