? Giant petrel
Southern Giant Petrel chick
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Procellariiformes Family: Procellariidae Genus: Macronectes Richmond, 1905
Species
M. giganteus (Gmelin, 1789) M. halli (Mathews, 1912) ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1201x899, 497 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Petrel Giant petrel ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria Placozoa Subregnum Bilateria  Acoelomorpha  Orthonectida  Rhombozoa  Myxozoa  Superphylum Deuterostomia     Chordata (vertebrates, etc. ... Typical Classes Subphylum Urochordata - Tunicates Ascideiacea Thaliacea Larvacea Subphylum Cephalochordata - Lancelets Subphylum Myxini - Hagfishes Subphylum Vertebrata - Vertebrates Petromyzontida - Lampreys Placodermi (extinct) Chondrichthyes - Cartilaginous fishes Acanthodii (extinct) Actinopterygii - Ray-finned fishes Actinistia - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Amphibia - Amphibians Reptilia - Reptiles Aves - Birds Mammalia - Mammals Chordates (phylum Chordata) include the vertebrates, together with... Orders Many - see section below. ... Families Procellariidae Diomedeidae Hydrobatidae Pelecanoididae Procellariiformes (from the Latin procella, a storm) is an order of birds formerly called Tubinares and still called tubenoses in English. ... Genera Several, see text. ... Charles Wallace Richmond (1868 - 1932) was an American Nicaragua he joined the staff of the United States National Museum in Washington DC. In 1894 he was appointed Assistant Curator of Birds, later becoming Curator. ... In biology, a species is, loosely speaking, a group of related organisms that share a more or less distinctive form and are capable of interbreeding. ... Johann Friedrich Gmelin (August 8, 1748 - November 1, 1804) was a German naturalist and botanist. ... 1789 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Gregory Macalister Mathews (September 10, 1876 - March 27, 1949) was an Australian ornithologist. ... 1912 is a leap year starting on Monday. ...

The giant petrels are two large seabirds from the genus Macronectes. Long considered to be conspecific (they were not established as separate species until 1966), the two species, the Southern Giant Petrel (M. giganteus) and Northern Giant Petrel (M. halli) are the largest members of the petrel family, Procellariidae, and considered, with the two fulmars to form a distinct sub-group within the petrels. Both species are restricted to the southern hemisphere, and though the ranges overlap greatly the Southern Giant Petrel nests further south, with colonies on Antarctica. Giant petrels are aggressive predators and scavengers, which has led to the other common name they were known as, the Stinker. Seabirds are birds that spend much of their lives, outside the breeding season at least, at sea. ... In biology, a genus (plural genera) is a grouping in the classification of living organisms having one or more related and morphologically similar species. ... 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ... The petrels are seabirds in the bird order Procellariiformes. ... Scientific classification or biological classification refers to how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Genera Several, see text. ... Species Fulmar (Linnaeus, 1761) Southern Fulmar (Smith,A, 1840) The two Fulmars are closely related seabirds occupying the same niche in different oceans. ... A seabird colony is a site which seabirds visit to breed. ... This snapping turtle is trying to make a meal of a Canada goose, but the goose is too wary. ... Harvestman eating the tail of a five-lined skink The word scavenger, in zoology, refers to animals that consume already dead organic life-forms. ...

Giant petrels superficially resemble the albatross, and are the only procellarids with a comparable wingspan, around 190 cm. They can be separated from the albatrosses by their bill, the two tube nostrils are joined together on the top of the bill, unlike on albatross where they are separated and on the side of the bill. They are harder to tell from each other, possesing similar long orange bills and uniform mottled grey plumage (excpet for 15% of Southern Petrels, which are almost completely white). Genera Diomedea Thallasarche Phoebastria Phoebetria The albatrosses are seabirds in the family Diomedeidae, which is closely allied to the petrels, storm-petrels and diving-petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the procellarids). ... Closeup on a single white feather A feather is one of the epidermal growths that forms the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on a bird. ...

Giant petrels are highly opportunistic feeders, uniquely for procellarids they will feed on land as well as at sea, in fact they find most of their food near the coast. On land they feed on carrion, particularly that of seals and penguins. With that ability they are also the only petrel capable of walking well, they also display their dominance over carcases with a "sealmaster posture". They are also capable of killing other seabirds, even those as large as an albatross, which they kill either by battering it to death (most commonly chicks of other species during the breeding season) or drowning. At sea they feed on krill, squid and fish, often attending fishing fleets in the hope of picking up offal. Carrion is the carcass of a dead animal that becomes food for other scavenging animals such as hyenas or Tasmanian Devils. ... Seal or SEAL can refer to: Look up seal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Genera Aptenodytes Eudyptes Eudyptula Megadyptes Pygoscelis Spheniscus Penguins (order Sphenisciformes, family Spheniscidae) are an order of flightless birds living in the southern hemisphere. ... Families Euphausiidae Bentheuphausiidae Krill are shrimp-like marine invertebrate animals. ... Suborders Myopsina Oegopsina Squids are the large, diverse group of marine mollusks, popular as food in cuisines as widely separated as the Korean and the Italian. ... A fishing fleet is an aggregate of commercial fishing vessels. ... Offal is the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal. ...

Southern Giant Petrel flying over ice sheet

The Southern Giant Petrel is more likely to form loose colonies than the Northern, both species laying a single egg in a rough nest built up off the ground (about 50cm high). The egg is incubated for about 60 days, once hatched the chick is brooded for 3 weeks. Chicks fledge after about 4 months, but do not achieve sexual maturity for another 6-7 years after fleding. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2304x1728, 1226 KB) Summary Southern Giant Petrel Photograph by: Henry Malmgren National Science Foundation [1] Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (2304x1728, 1226 KB) Summary Southern Giant Petrel Photograph by: Henry Malmgren National Science Foundation [1] Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... A seabird colony is a site which seabirds visit to breed. ... The word incubate in the context of birds refers to the development of the chick (embryo) within the egg and the constant temperature required for the development of it over a specific period. ... Fledge is the stage in a young birds life when the feathers and wing muscles are sufficiently developed for flight. ...

References

• Brooke, M. (2004). Albatrosses And Petrels Across The World: Procellariidae. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK ISBN 0-19-850125-0
• del Hoyo, Josep, Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (1992). Handbook of Birds of the World Vol 1. Barcelona:Lynx Edicions, ISBN 84-87334-10-5