Rhinoceros pelican

Rhinoceros pelican
	Adult rhinoceros pelican ( Pelecanus erythrorhynchos ) in plain dress
Systematics
Class :	Birds (aves)
Order :	Pelecaniformes
Family :	Pelicans (Pelecanidae)
Genre :	Pelicans ( pelecanus )
Type :	Rhinoceros pelican
Scientific name
	Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
	Gmelin , 1789

The rhinoceros pelican ( Pelecanus erythrorhynchos ) is one of the largest water birds in the world.

features

The rhinoceros pelican, 127 to 170 centimeters long, with a wingspan of almost 3 m, is white pinnate with black wing tips. After the California condor, it is the largest bird in North America in terms of wingspan. He reaches a body weight of 3.5 to 13.6 kilograms. During the mating season, the bird develops a yellow head and a hump-shaped back of the beak up to 7 cm high on the mighty orange beak. This falls off again in summer after the end of the breeding season.

Habitat and Distribution

Rhinoceros pelicans live mainly on large lakes and in coastal areas of the USA , Mexico and Central America .

The northernmost deposits are located on rapids of the Slave River near Fort Smith in the border area of Wood Buffalo National Park on the southern edge of the Northwest Territories of Canada . Breeding birds arrive here at the end of April; in September they move south to the coasts of the United States, Mexico, and Central America.

Way of life

Rhino pelicans pounding at the Rapids of the Drowned (Slave River near Fort Smith)

The rhinoceros pelican is an extremely sociable bird that not only lives in large colonies, but also prey collectively. Several animals circle a school of fish and chase it into shallow water before scooping their prey out of the water with their bills wide open. The prey is swallowed whole. When hunting, the rhinoceros pelican, unlike the brown pelican, does not dive completely under water, but rather digs. In addition to fish, amphibians and crustaceans are also part of its diet.

Rhinoceros pelican in flight, clearly recognizable the horn on the upper beak that this species carries during the breeding season.

The rhinoceros pelican breeds in colonies with several hundred breeding pairs. In the nest, a mound on the ground, two or three eggs are incubated by both parents for about 30 days. The young birds fledge after 70 days. If the colonies are disturbed by human visitors, the bird will stop breeding.

In captivity, rhinoceros pelicans have successfully raised offspring at the age of three.

literature

W. Grummt , H. Strehlow (Ed.): Zoo animal keeping birds. Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-8171-1636-2 .

Web links

Commons : Pelecanus erythrorhynchos - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Pelecanus erythrorhynchos in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed January 31 of 2009.
Videos, photos and sound recordings of Pelecanus erythrorhynchos in the Internet Bird Collection

Single receipts

↑ W. Grummt, H. Strehlow (Ed.): Zoo animal keeping birds . Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-8171-1636-2 . P. 79
↑ W. Grummt, H. Strehlow (Ed.): Zoo animal keeping birds . Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-8171-1636-2 . P. 81.

[1] W. Grummt, H. Strehlow (Ed.): Zoo animal keeping birds . Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-8171-1636-2 . P. 79

[2] W. Grummt, H. Strehlow (Ed.): Zoo animal keeping birds . Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-8171-1636-2 . P. 81.