The albatross drinks sea water and eliminates the salt through two nasal tubes in its beak.

The king of freedom

A life in freedom – sliding like a glider over the vastness of the South Atlantic. This is how this impressive sea-bird in the albatross family spends almost its entire lifetime. Due to its particularly long and narrow wings it can glide for hours above the waves without beating its wings. In comparison to the larger Wandering albatross, the Black-browed albatross reaches rather a moderate size. A male animal measures over 80 cm from beak to tail and can reach a wingspan of 245 cm.

The distribution area of the Black-browed albatross extends over the southern hemisphere from the subtropical waters to the Southern Ocean. Sightings from the North Atlantic and a evidence from the Western Baltic Sea demonstrate their excellent flight power. The only enemy of the albatross is man. While earlier on drift-net fishing meant certain death for many animals, long-line fishing has become the biggest problem for these elegant animals: when hunting prey underwater they become caught on the numerous hooks on the up to 100 km long line and drown miserably.

The Black-browed albatross, which is located in the ornithological collection of the MEERESMUSEUM, came to Stralsund as a donation from the ROS 309 "Bernhard Kellermann", a deep-sea trawler of the GDR, in 1978. The sailors stated the place they found it as the South Atlantic. Its further journey then led the albatross via the Museum's preparation to numerous special exhibitions.