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adirondacker

(2,921 posts)
Tue Apr 22, 2014, 01:51 PM Apr 2014

Introducing A Divorce Rate For Birds, And Guess Which Bird Never, Ever Divorces?

by Robert Krulwich

"There is love. And then there's albatross love.

In his new book, , Noah Strycker says albatrosses have a knack for coupling. "These globe trotters, who mate for life and are incredibly faithful to their partners, just might have the most intense love affairs of any animal on our planet," he writes.

Noah knows "love" is a word normally reserved for humans. Technically, what albatrosses do is "pair bond." But call it what you will, he says — "to see what real devotion is like, you need to spend some quality time with an albatross."

They are seabirds. They spend 95 percent of their time sailing through the air for thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of miles. They fish. They rest on the oceans' surface. They can go for years never seeing land. But they are born on dry land."

<snip>

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2014/04/22/305582368/introducing-a-divorce-rate-for-birds-and-guess-which-bird-never-ever-divorces

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Introducing A Divorce Rate For Birds, And Guess Which Bird Never, Ever Divorces? (Original Post) adirondacker Apr 2014 OP
When asked what animal I would want to be, Curmudgeoness Apr 2014 #1
The article is fun and fascinating, chock full of information that I never knew about the albatross. adirondacker Apr 2014 #2
got to see laysans on o'ahu this winter mopinko Apr 2014 #3

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)
1. When asked what animal I would want to be,
Tue Apr 22, 2014, 07:30 PM
Apr 2014

my answer is always an albatross. And that is part of the reason.

The reason for the devotion could be that they spend most of the year alone, away from their mate, and only meet up again at mating season. Absence makes the heart grow fonder?

adirondacker

(2,921 posts)
2. The article is fun and fascinating, chock full of information that I never knew about the albatross.
Wed Apr 23, 2014, 02:46 AM
Apr 2014

Last edited Sat Apr 26, 2014, 05:42 PM - Edit history (1)

"But typically the chick "spends a full nine months sitting alone ... in its nest, most of the time in quiet contemplation of its surroundings since it has no siblings.""

I also had no idea that they lived that long...65 years!

Avoid the flamingos!

mopinko

(70,078 posts)
3. got to see laysans on o'ahu this winter
Wed Apr 30, 2014, 09:35 AM
Apr 2014

really amazing. they built a huge fence to keep the feral cats and rats out of the nesting area.

amazing to see, but when you know that they used to blot out the sight of the rocks they were on, seeing the couple hundred that we saw was haunting.

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