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Breeding Frequency in the Albatrosses Diomedea melanophris and D. chrysostoma

Abstract

IT is now generally accepted that the two great albatrosses D. exulans and D. epomophora take about twelve months to rear their young, and if successful breed only in alternate years1–4, but the breeding cycles of the smaller species are not so prolonged and there has been less reason to suppose that annual breeding is not the rule. Recent studies at Bird Island, South Georgia (54° 00′ S., 38° 02′ W.) (ref. 5), however, indicate that although the black-browed albatross D. melanophris breeds annually, the grey-headed albatross D. chrysostoma breeds less frequently.

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TICKELL, W., PINDER, R. Breeding Frequency in the Albatrosses Diomedea melanophris and D. chrysostoma. Nature 213, 315–316 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/213315b0

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