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Sula leucogaster (Brown booby)
Bruinmalgas [Afrikaans]; Bruine gent [Dutch]; Fou brun
[French]; Brauntölpel [German]; Alcatraz-pardo [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: Sulidae
Distribution and habitat
Widespread across tropical oceans, while it is a rare
vagrant to southern Africa, with most records located near KwaZulu-Natal. It is
also rarely sighted along the coast of Namibia and Mozambique.
Food
It mainly eats fish, caught by plunge-diving, although it
also hawks flying fish aerially. It often follows dolphins and gamefish,
catching prey that they disturb.
Breeding
It mainly breeds on islands in the north-west Indian Ocean
and off the coast of Brazil, nesting in colonies on steep slopes.
Threats
Not threatened, although its population has decreased
recently due to human exploitation.
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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