Southern Fulmar [Fulmarus glacialoides]
Description
The Southern Fulmar is a medium-sized seabird that resembles a gull, but is actually more closely related to petrels and shearwaters. It has a white body, silvery-grey wings, and a pale yellow bill. The Southern Fulmar is a pelagic bird that spends most of its life at sea, only coming to land to breed on ice-free cliffs and slopes in Antarctica. Its diet consists mainly of krill, but it also feeds on fish and squid. The Southern Fulmar is known for its ability to excrete a stomach oil when threatened, which has a foul smell and is used to deter predators.
Taxonomy
| Phylum |
Chordates
Chordata
|
|---|---|
| Class |
Birds
Aves
|
| Order |
Albatrosses, Petrels, and Shearwaters
Procellariiformes
|
| Family |
Shearwaters and Petrels
Procellariidae
|
| Genus |
Northern Fulmars
Fulmarus
|