The large albatross seabird has been known to fly to feed its chick at distances of over 10,000 miles (16,000 km) to deliver one meal. Their main sources of food include squid and fish eggs, which they eat and digest before feeding their chicks the regurgitated solid food and stomach oils. For the first few weeks of an albatross chick’s life, its parents will travel and bring back food each day. As the chicks age, its parents typically return every two to three days with food.
More about albatrosses and their feeding habits:
- Albatrosses generally mate and raise their chicks for life, with the male and female sharing equal responsibility for incubating the egg and feeding the chick once it has hatched.
- Unlike most birds, the albatross has a strong sense of smell and can hunt for prey based on areas of the sea that smell most fragrantly of fish.
- The adult albatross’ high fat diet is very efficient for albatross chicks--for every gram of fat they digest from their parents’ regurgitation the chick receives an equal amount of water.