Chordate Zoology - Textbook - I. V. Tsaryk - 2013

Chapter 5. SUPERCLASS TETRAPODS (TERRESTRIAL VERTEBRATES) TETRAPODA, seu QUADRIPEDA.

ANAMNIOTES (ANAMNIA) AND AMNIOTES (AMNIOTA)

5.3. CLASS AVES

5.3.3. Systematics and characteristics of representatives of the main orders of the class Aves

5.3.3.2. Superorder Typical, or Neognathous Birds Neognathae

5.3.3.2.8. Order Procellariiformes procellariiformes

About 80 (114) species of seabirds that spend their entire lives at sea, coming ashore only during the breeding season. Most species nest in the Southern Hemisphere, while some winter in the seas of the Northern Hemisphere. Superficially resembling gulls, they are exceptionally strong fliers and swimmers, though they can dive only from a plunge, submerging to shallow depths. Unlike other birds, their nostrils are enclosed in horny tubes on the sides of the bill. Three toes are webbed. They feed on marine invertebrates, fish, carrion, and ship galley refuse. They nest in colonies on marine coasts. Monogamous, the female lays a single egg. Albatrosses of the genus Diomedea have a body mass of 8–10 kg and a wingspan of up to 3–4 m (Fig. 5.45, 9). The chicks are capable of flight starting at six months of age. Other petrels and shearwaters are generally much smaller.