Animalia Life

Diomedea melanophris
TAXONOMY
Diomedea melanophris Temminck, 1828, Cape of Good Hope. Two subspecies.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Black-browed albatross; French: Albatros а sourcils noirs; German: Schwarzbrauenalbatros; Spanish: Albatros Ojeroso.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Wingspan c. 7.9 ft (240 cm); 6.4–10.3 lb (2.9–4.7 kg). Heavily built mollymawk with mainly all white body and head, black upper wings, mantle and tail, underwing black with variable amounts of central white. Eyebrow black.
DISTRIBUTION
The most plentiful of the albatrosses with 98% of breeding concentrated in the southern Chile at Diego Ramirez, Islas Ildefonso, Diego de Almagra (Chile), south Atlantic at Falkland Islands (12 islands) forming a distinctive genetic grouping; a second genetic grouping comprising South Georgia, small numbers at Crozet, Kerguelen, Heard, and McDonald Islands in the Indian Ocean and very small numbers at Macquarie, Bishop & Clerk, Antipodes, Campbell Islands and The Snares in the southwest Pacific. Most common straggler into North Atlantic.
HABITAT
Marine, not significantly pelagic, being found close to coast more than other albatrosses. Highly colonial breeder, can be in large colonies of thousands of nests. Often on coastal tussock slopes or ledges where nests are built of packed soil and grasses and used in successive seasons. Largest colonies in the Falkland Islands are on gently sloping rocky terrain without vegetation.
BEHAVIOR
Colonies actively noisy with strident territorial open mouthed bray with flagging of the head, and aggressive harsh cackling. Like other Mollymawks uses fanned tail extensively in display sequences.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Most food taken by surface seizing, with occasional shallow plunging, and swimming below surface. Mainly crustaceans, squid, fish, carrion, and fisheries discards or offal. Feeds extensively on large swarms of krill. Kleptoparisitism (prey theft) observed with stealing from surfacing shags. Sometimes follows whales. Often feeds aggressively among flocks of albatrosses and petrels.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Annual breeder, laying one egg with laying period covering three weeks with a mean of 10 October at South Georgia, but three weeks earlier at Falklands/Crozet and Kerguelen Islands. Incubation is 68–71 days with a guard stage of 1–4 weeks following hatching, before fledging from 120–130 days. Overall productivity averages 27% for chicks fledged from eggs laid. Pairing usually for life. Adolescents return at 2–3 years old and breed at 10 years with c. 28% or less of fledglings surviving to breed. Adults have an annual mortality c. 8–9% with females surviving better than males.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not globally threatened, with a population of c. 600,000 breeding pairs, but with significant declines noted in some areas. But D. m. impavida (26,000 pairs) is classed as vulnerable as its breeding is restricted to one island.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

Other popular Animals