Southern giant petrels are distantly related to the albatrosses: they are tube-nosed with a peculiar beak that looks as if it was pieced together from several pieces of horn. On top, the nostrils sit as a double tube that serves to excrete the salt from the seawater ingested when drinking. This desalination plant (which all tube-nosed creatures have, including albatrosses) allows them to spend their entire lives at sea. They actually only come on land to breed - otherwise they can be found on the open sea, in the stormy Southern Ocean, where they sail stiffly but elegantly over the waves with very few wing beats.
As the name suggests, giant petrels are fairly large animals. Their European relatives, the fulmars, look like dwarfs in the face of this largest of all petrels: they have a body length of over 90 cm and a wingspan of over two metres. The beak alone can be 12 cm long and their webbed feet are about the size of a human hand.
On the high seas, the GPs feed on everything that floats on or just below the water surface: krill, squid, fishing waste and other dead things. But when the seals give birth in the summer, it makes a lot more sense for them to patrol the beaches. The older males in particular are not just pure scavengers, but rather unscrupulous hunters who specifically target and kill individual animals.
For as long as I can remember I have always been drawn to the beauty of the environment and the wild spirit of wildlife. However, my love for nature and wildlife photography began a few years back after a series of travels coupled with my studies in design. .. Read more…