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Sunday, April 15, 2012

Pelican

  • The great white pelican catches about 1.2 kg of fish a day in its large throat pouch.
  • The brown pelican dives from a height of 15 m above the water to catch fish below below the surface. 
  • There are seven species of pelican. Most live and feed around fresh water, but the brown pelican is a seabird.
  • A great white pelican comes in to land on the water.
  • One of the largest pelicans is the Australian pelican, which is up to 180 cm long and weighs about 15 kg.
  • The white pelican lays 1-2 eggs in a nest mound on the ground. Both parents help to incubate the eggs and care for the young.
  • Pelican chicks are able to stand at 3 weeks old and can fly at 7-10 weeks old.
  • White pelicans work as a group to herd fish into a shoal by swimming around them in a horseshoe formation. 
  • In flight, a pelican flaps its wings 1.3 times a second. This is one of the slowest wingbeat speeds, when actively flying, of any bird.

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