Albatross is the largest flying sea-bird. It can have a wingspan of 3.15 m (10 ft 4 in.) at full stretch. It belongs to Diomedeidae family and is found mainly in south of the equator. It has a long, heavy beak and long narrow wings which allow it to soar on the wind seemingly without effort for hours. Its body is about 1.2 metres long.
There are more than a dozen species of Albatross. It experiences certain difficulty in taking off. It needs some wind and must run along the ground or paddle with its feet across the water for a long time before it can soar.
Like other oceanic birds, albatross also drinks sea water. Although it normally lives on squid, it is attracted to ship’s garbage. It comes ashore only to breed in colonies on islands. It lays a single large white egg on ground in the open, which is incubated alternatively by the male and female parent. The growth of a young albatross is very slow. It attains flight plumage in 3 to 10 months, and then spends the next 5 to 10 years at sea, learning navigation and feeding techniques. Albatrosses live long and are among the few birds that die of old age.
However, among the sea birds which use wings for swimming and not for flying, the largest is the Emperor Penguin of Antarctica. Standing over one metre high and weighing 40 kg, the Plum Emperor lives in the most remote shores of the great ice-bound continent.
The largest ever recorded specimen of albatross was a very old male with a wingspan of 3.63 m. (11 ft. 11 inch). This was caught by the members of the Antarctic research ship in the Tasman Sea on 18 September, 1965.