page_title: Albatross
section_title: Breeding and dancing
hierarchical_section_title: Albatross / Biology / Breeding and dancing
context_page_description: Albatrosses are large seabirds which belong to the biological family Diomedeidae. They live in the region of the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean. They are not found in the North Atlantic region, but their fossils have been found there, which shows that they used to live there. There are four main species of albatross: Great Albatrosses, North Pacific Albatrosses, Mollymawks and Sooty Albatrosses. These are divided into twenty-one species identified by the World Conservation Union.
  Great Albatrosses are among the largest of flying birds. All albatrosses are very good at flying, spending much of their life in the air. They eat squid, fish and krill. Albatrosses come ashore to make their nests, mostly on islands, and usually near the nests of other birds.
  Nineteen of the twenty-one species of albatross are endangered. This is partly because animals such as rats and cats attack their eggs, chicks, and sometimes adult birds as well. Pollution of the oceans, such as plastic waste and oils spills, also kills albatrosses. Sometimes there may be not enough fish to eat because of over-fishing.
context_section_description: Albatrosses live together, and they usually nest on islands where no people live. Many Buller's Albatrosses and Black-footed Albatrosses nest under trees in open forest. Albatrosses usually come back to their own group after leaving for a while to find a mate. This is one of their strongest instinct, and the study of Laysan Albatross showed that the normal distance between the place where it was hatched and the place where the bird made its own territory was 22m (72 ft).
  Like most seabirds, albatrosses live much longer than other birds. They also do not look for their mate for a long time, and do not have a lot of young. Some kinds of albatrosses live up to 50 years. The oldest albatross recorded was the Northern Royal Albatross that lived for 61 years.
  Before albatrosses mate, they group together and spend lots of years practicing the mating rules and special "dances" that the family is famous for.
  When the albatrosses learn these kind of actions and dances, they also learn things such as pointing, calling, making noises with their bill, staring, and sometimes all of them put together. When a bird first comes it will dance with many other albatrosses, but after a few years, the number of birds it will dance with will lessen until one of the birds are chosen. After becoming a pair, they will never use that dance again.
  Albatrosses have a hard time laying their children. It takes a lot of time for an albatross to lay an egg and raise a chick. The great albatrosses take over a year to raise a chick. Albatrosses lay one egg, white with reddish brown spots. But if the egg is taken by other predators or accidentally broken, the parents will not lay another egg for that whole year. The larger eggs weigh from 200–510 g (7.1–18 oz). Two albatrosses do not usually "divorce". This sometimes may happen if several years passed without being able to lay a single egg.
  All the albatrosses in the south live in large nests. They make it with grass, soil, and sometimes penguin feathers. The Waved Albatross, however, does not make a nest but instead moves its egg around the pair’s territory, as much as 50 m (160 ft). This may sometimes make it lose the egg. In all albatross species, both parents incubate the egg from between one day and three weeks. Incubation lasts around 70 to 80 days. This time may become more longer for the larger albatrosses. When they do this, it takes a lot of energy, and the adult can lose as much as 83 g (2.9 oz) of body weight a day.
  After hatching, the chick is taken care of and guarded for three weeks until it is large enough to take care of and fight for itself. During this time the parents feed the chick small meals. After the chick has grown a little older, it is fed in bigger meals by both parents. The parents both take turns to go and find food, that are about 12% of their body weight (around 600 g (21 oz)). They find food such as fresh squid, fish and krill.
  Albatross chicks take a long time to fledge (learn how to fly). In the case of more bigger albatrosses, it can take up to 280 days. And even for the smaller albatrosses, it can take from 140 to 170 days. Like many seabirds, albatross chicks later become even heavier than their mother and father. When they are preparing their body for flying, they may also grow flight feathers, which makes them sometimes as heavy as their parents. Between 15% and 65% of those who fledged survive to find their mate after. Albatross chicks learn to fly on their own. Their parents do not teach them, and instead they return to the nest even after their chick has left.
caption: Sky-pointing is one of the most well known mating dances of the albatrosses.
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