Thalassarche melanophrys
(Black-browed albatross)
[= Diomedea melanophris]
Swartrugalbatros, Swartrugmalmok [Afrikaans]; Mallemok,
Malmokalbatros [Dutch]; Albatros à sourcils noirs [French];
Schwarzbrauenalbatroß [German]; Albatroz-olheirudo [Portuguese]
Life
> Eukaryotes >
Opisthokonta
> Metazoa (animals) >
Bilateria >
Deuterostomia > Chordata >
Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates) > Gnathostomata (jawed
vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class:
Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned
fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial
vertebrates) > Tetrapoda
(four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota >
Reptilia (reptiles) >
Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria >
Dinosauria
(dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) >
Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves
(birds) > Order: Ciconiiformes
> Family: Diomedeidae
Distribution and habitat
Breeds on sub-Antarctic islands, dispersing across the
southern Oceans, including in southern African waters. Here it is common off the
west and south coast, while more scarce off northern Namibia and KwaZulu-Natal,
generally favouring the shelf break (where the deep ocean and continental shelf
meet).
Movements and migrations
Most birds in southern African waters originate
from South Georgia, to a much lesser extent the Falkland and
Kerguelen Islands. After breeding it rapidly migrates across the
South Atlantic Ocean to the Western Cape, typically averaging
48km/hr.
Food
Roughly 80% of its diet consists of discards and offal from
fishing vessels, supplemented with squid and pelagic crustaceans. It does most
of its foraging by catching food items from the water surface, rarely plunging
to the water up to a depth of six metres. An oppurtunistic feeder, as it
sometimes follows cetaceans and steals from Cape fur seals (Arctocephalus
pusillus).
Threats
Previously considered Near-threatened, it has now
been reclassified as Endangered, largely due to longline and other
fishery-related mortalities. It has an estimated world population of 2.5
milllion indivuals, but just in southern African waters roughly 5000-10 000
individuals where killed between 1999 and 2000.
References
-
Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts
- Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker
Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.
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