Creature Feature Encyclopedia

Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans

The Wandering Albatross is an impressive expression of grace. Its wingspan, which extends up to eleven feet, is the widest of any animal living on the planet. True to its name, the Wandering Albatross spends most of its life in flight. It soars on wind currents over vast distances of ocean, covering up to three hundred miles in one day. This gargantuan glider lands on the ocean only in calm weather, feasting on fish, squid, and the food refuse from cruise ships. The drifting path of the Albatross leads it to land only to nest and to bring up its young. This is done in the sublime seclusion of several subantarctic isles. Because it takes eleven weeks for the chicks to incubate, breeding is only possible every other year. However, the average life span of the Wandering Albatross is more than thirty years.

~A Fly in the Sky © 1996