Save the Albatross

The campaign

THE PROBLEM

SOLUTIONS

ALBATROSSES

100,000 albatrosses are killed every year on fishing hooks. They are being killed in such vast numbers that they can't breed fast enough to keep up. This is putting them in real danger of extinction.

What makes the albatross's life so amazing?
What makes its death so tragic?The perfect aviator

Wandering albatrosses and royal albatrosses have the largest wingspan of any bird on the planet, their long and narrow wings reaching up to 3.5 metres (11 foot).

Albatrosses are a miracle of nature - gliding on wind currents for thousands of miles, without once flapping their wings.

All this is even more remarkable, considering that they are one of the largest birds flying birds - they weigh up to 10 kilogrammes (25 lbs).

Albatrosses will fly massive distances in search of food. The wandering albatross will fly as far as 10,000 kilometres (6,250 miles) in one single trip to feed its chick.

That's almost as far as the longest leg of the Volvo Ocean Race.

A grey-headed albatross from South Georgia has been recorded circumnavigating the globe in a mere 46 days!

No ordinary life

An albatross's life is destined to span 60 years and beyond - it is now rare for them to survive this long.

Albatrosses choose a mate and then they stick together for life. If their partner is killed, they may take years to find another - indeed they may never find a replacement.

Having fledged and flown for the first time, albatross chicks will not return to land for many years. In the case of royal albatrosses, this may be up to five years.

Young albatrosses may not begin breeding until they are 10 years old.

A low reproductive rate - they produce just one egg each breeding season - and the fact that many species will only breed once every two years, means these birds are being killed faster than they can ever re-populate.

These fantastic birds live in all but one of the worlds oceans (the Arctic) with 17 of the 22 species living only in the Southern Ocean.

Nineteen out of the 22 albatross species are threatened with extinction

Help save albatrosses from extinction - you can help stop these magnificent birds from dying needlessly on fishing hooks by donating now

100,000 albatrosses are killed every year on longline fishing hooks - that's one every five minutes