📸 PhotoPhoto: Jlfutari at English Wikipedia · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Short-tailed Albatross
Phoebastria albatrus (Short-tailed Albatross · アホウドリ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cites longline fishery bycatch, oil spills, and plastic ingestion as threats and estimated the population at about 7,365 birds in its 2020 assessment.
- 💡 Its wingspan of about 2.3 m is about half the length of a passenger car (about 4.5 m) (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Short-tailed Albatross is a large seabird with a wingspan exceeding 2 m that spends most of its time at sea and breeds on remote islands of Japan. Because its breeding island of Torishima is an active volcano, eruptions and landslides pose a threat.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
It is a large seabird with a body length of 84–94 cm and a wingspan of 213–229 cm.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It mainly snatches squid, shrimp, fish, and crustaceans from the water surface, and also eats offal and bait discarded by fishing vessels. It breeds on Torishima and the Senkaku Islands in Japan, and a new breeding colony was established on Mukojima in 2008–2012.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
It is listed as 'Albateuroseu' (Korean name) in the National List of Species of Korea.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List VU (2018) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22698335/132642113
- • IUCN Red List category VU — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • doi.org — avilist.v2026
- • iucnredlist.org — 132642113
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000001485 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000001485
- • wikidata.org — Q853412
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Short tailed Albatross1.jpg
- • fws.gov — short-tailed-albatross-phoebastria-albatrus
- • genomics.senescence.info — entry.php
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Juan Carlos Jerí · CC0 1.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Phoebastria irrorata)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.