Go to the Galapagos Island of Española in April and you might expertise firsthand probably the most attention-grabbing and elaborate courtship rituals in all the animal kingdom.
Every spring, tens of hundreds of waved albatrosses—practically all the worldwide inhabitants—return to Española to seek out mates and breed. Throughout this time, they’re the most important birds within the Galapagos, averaging 3 ft in size with a wingspan of 8 ft.
> Galapagos Wildlife Information: Waved Albatross
Waved albatrosses mate for all times, a relationship that’s resolidified annually by means of an elaborate and typically comical dance that may last as long as 5 days. The spectacle features a exact collection of actions reminiscent of stumbling, bowing, honking, rapid-fire beak fencing and exaggerated head swaying. That is all punctuated by an occasional “any-a-annhh” sound.
A pair that’s coupling for the primary time or one which did not breed throughout the earlier season will interact in a good longer and extra concerned ritual!
Try the video under of two waved albatrosses partaking on this courtship dance:
After the Dance
When the dance is lastly full most pairs will mate and produce a single egg, which the female and male will take turns incubating. As soon as the egg hatches, each birds will take part within the care and feeding of the nestling. Round January, nestlings depart the island and roam the seas for about 5 years earlier than returning to Española to seek out lifelong mates of their very own.
Witness winged albatrosses, blue-footed boobies, Galapagos penguins, Darwin’s finches and myriad extra birds and different wildlife on our Galapagos Discovery journey!
> Find out about World Wildlife Fund’s Conservation Efforts within the Galapagos Islands
