Antipodean Albatross
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Order: Procellariiformes
Family: Diomedeidae
Synonyms: Diomedea exulans antipodensis

[Photo] Gibson's Albatross (Diomedea antipodensis gibsoni). Subspecies of Antipodean Albatross, considered by some to be same species as Wandering Albatross. Location: Sydney, Australia. Date October 2006. Author: Duncan Wright (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Sabine%27s_Sunbird).

Copyright (C) 2006 Duncan Wright Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

The Antipodean Albatross (Diomedea antipodensis) is a large seabird from the albatross family. One of the great albatrosses of the genus Diomedea, it was only distinguished as a subspecies of the Wandering Albatross in 1992 and recognised by some authorities as a full species in 1998. While not all scientists believe it is a full species, retaining it with the Wandering Albatross, a 2004 study of the mitochondrial DNA and microsatellites of the Wandering Albatross species complex supported the split. Antipodean Albatrosses are smaller than Wandering Albatrosses, and breed in predominantly brown plumage, but are otherwise difficult to distinguish from Wanderers.

Antipodean Albatrosses nest on New Zealand's outer island groups. There are two subspecies within the Antipodean Albatross, Diomedea antipodensis antipodensis, which nests on Antipodes Islands and Campbell Island and Diomedea antipodensis gibsoni, which nests on the Auckland Islands. Diomedea antipodensis gibsoni was considered a separate species as well after 1998, but the 2004 study showed there was little evidence to support the split. At sea Antipodean Albatrosses range across the South Pacific from Australia to as far as Chile. They feed predominantly on squid and to a lesser extent fish (unlike other albatross species they are not recorded eating any crustaceans), and have been recorded visiting the spawning grounds of the giant cuttlefish off New South Wales.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipodean_Albatross

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