My Deep-sea Fishery

"There is almost no bird in the entire Antarctic that is not a protected animal." Xiang Yang said unhappily.

According to the Antarctic Animal Protection Treaty, all birds in Antarctica, including bird eggs, are absolutely prohibited from being captured by humans.

When Fang Youqun heard this, his face immediately collapsed, "I finally met an albatross in the water, but I didn't expect it to be a protected animal."

"What? Do you think you can catch it while it's in the water? When you swim over, it doesn't take off anymore?" A crew member who usually has a good relationship with Fang Youqun said with a smile.

With a thought in his mind, Xiang Yang suddenly said, "Not to mention, if this wandering albatross is not a protected animal, we might really be able to catch it."

"That's right, although albatrosses are master gliders, they don't need to flap their wings to stay in the air for several hours, but they need headwinds to take off. In the absence of headwinds, they can only take off from the edge of the cliff by running up. When there is no wind and no cliffs, the wandering albatross has no way to fly its bulky body, and can only float on the sea like an ordinary duck." Chen Qingsheng also nodded in agreement.

"Not at all."

Xiang Yang smiled and said: "Even on the sea, the wandering albatross is still more flexible than ordinary ducks."

"As far as I know, wandering albatrosses mainly hunt for food on the surface of the sea, and sometimes go underwater," Xiang Yang said.

The Wandering Albatross is different from ordinary albatrosses. In addition to being a world-renowned gliding master, it is also an excellent diving master.

Wandering albatrosses are very good at diving, and can easily drill to a depth of more than ten meters on the seabed to prey on some fish and shrimps on the seabed.

However, wandering albatrosses generally forage at night, because at night, many marine organisms will float to the surface of the water.

"You can fly, but you can still dive?" Fang Youqun asked in surprise.

Xiang Yang smiled and nodded.

Fang Youqun looked around, and suddenly asked in doubt: "Hey, that's not right, Brother Yang, there are no islands around us, what if this wandering albatross wants to drink water? Could it be able to mix with sea water?"

"Why not?" Xiang Yang asked back.

"Ah? Isn't it common sense that sea water can't be drunk?" Fang Youqun asked strangely.

Xiang Yang smiled and said, "What you said is an attempt by human beings, not applicable to animals and plants."

"So, this wandering albatross can drink sea water to quench its thirst?" Fang Youqun asked in surprise.

"That's right, like most birds, wandering albatrosses can drink seawater and quench their thirst with seawater." Xiang Yang nodded.

"The wandering albatross has a very strange stomach. It can not only drink sea water to quench thirst, but also change the type of food according to changes in the weather."

"Can fly, dive, and drink sea water to quench thirst, so isn't this bird invincible? Why is it still a protected animal?" Fang Youqun stared.

Xiang Yang sighed, "God is fair. Although albatrosses have strong survival ability, their reproductive ability is extremely low. Albatrosses need to be at least ten years old to have reproductive ability, and they only lay one egg at a time."

When albatrosses are breeding, they will land in groups on islands far from the mainland.

When the breeding season begins, the male wandering albatross will fly to the breeding ground first and wait for the female to come.

When the breeding ground is full of albatrosses, the wandering albatrosses will perform wings and beak pecking performances. The male wandering albatrosses keep singing "cuckoo" and at the same time, they are very gentlemanly to the female wandering albatross. stooped and bowed.

When hatching eggs, the male and female wandering albatrosses work together in a division of labor.

The female bird is generally responsible for incubating eggs, and the male bird is responsible for guarding, and sometimes the division of labor is also rotated.

During the non-breeding period, the wandering albatross will fly aimlessly at sea.

For the newly hatched chicks, the adult birds are mainly fed at the beginning, which is similar to sparrows and swallows, and many people have seen it.

Once the young albatrosses have grown their feathers, the main job of the adults becomes caregiving.

About 20 days after the baby albatross is born, the nursing period ends, and the baby albatross basically needs to rely on itself to survive independently. During this period, many baby albatrosses are often weeded out.

However, some biologists have found that some adult birds, after the nursing period is over, will still fly back to the breeding grounds every week to have a look, and sometimes, they will bring some food to the young albatrosses in the breeding grounds.

The biologists found that young albatrosses that were able to be cared for by adults after the nursing period ended had a higher culling rate than those that did not.

It is also worth mentioning that wandering albatrosses are very loyal in love. Once they establish a spouse relationship, they usually live together until the death of the other partner.

"The albatross' habitat is the ocean, and they behave very docilely on the shore, so many albatrosses are also commonly known as dumb gulls or stupid birds." Xiang Yang said with a smile.

Albatrosses are mainly distributed in the southern hemisphere, and a few live in the North Pacific and the equator.

The distribution of albatross is very obvious, which is related to the influence of wind in the ocean belt between Antarctica and South America, Africa and the southern tip of Australia.

The largest number of individuals and species are concentrated at 45-70° south latitude, but they also reproduce in the temperate waters of the southern hemisphere, and the distribution area of ​​​​a few species enters the North Pacific Ocean.

The Isla Ga albatross in the Galapagos and on Isla de la Plata off the coast of Ecuador breeds at the equator, where the climate is influenced by the cold Humboldt Current.

Once, there was a black-backed albatross that bred in North America, but it was wiped out by American soldiers because it affected the take-off of US military aircraft.

Currently, of all the albatrosses, the most prized is the black-footed albatross.

The body shape of the black-footed albatross is similar to that of the short-tailed albatross. It can grow up to 80 centimeters in length and weigh more than one kilogram. The tail and feathers are white with black spots, the tail feathers are also black spots, and the abdomen is pure white.

The difference between the black-footed albatross and the short-tailed albatross is the dark color of the bill and feet. The population of this albatross is very rare.

Moreover, the black-footed albatross likes to follow ships to find food waste, and often eats industrial waste by mistake and then dies. It has been included in the "National Protected Beneficial or Possessive Animals" issued by the State Forestry Administration of my country on August 1, 2000. It is a very precious bird in the list of terrestrial wild animals with important economic and scientific research value.

The wandering albatross is second only to the black-footed albatross among all albatross species.