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White-Breasted Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo Description: • Size: o Length: 35 in (90 cm) o Wingspan: 35 in (90 cm) • Weight: 7.2 lb (3.5 kg) • Sexual dimorphism: Males are slightly longer and up to 20% heavier than females. • Physical Description: A large water bird with a long neck and extremely sharp, hooked bill. Feet are webbed, and tail is fan-shaped. Has a gular pouch immediately below the beak. • Coloration: Overall dark gray or black plumage with a bluish or greenish sheen. Upper mandible is gray, brown, or black, while lower mandible is typically lighter-colored. Yellow patch of skin at the base of the lower mandible. White on the underparts varies between individuals, and ranges from a small white patch on the throat to completely white undersides. During breeding season, a white patch may appear at the thigh. In the Wild Habitat and Range: • Geographic range: A very widespread species, occurring on every continent except South America and Antarctica. • Preferred Habitat: Inland waterways such as rivers, reservoirs, and lakes and sea coasts are the typical habitat for this animal. Diet: • Carnivore o Diet predominantly features fish, but also includes crustaceans, amphibians, mollusks, and even nesting birds. Adaptations: • Unlike many birds, cormorant feathers are designed to allow moisture to penetrate. This makes the feathers denser, less buoyant, and more adapted to diving. After diving, however, the cormorant must spend time preening and drying out its feathers. • Wing morphology is well adapted to flying quickly for short distances. Therefore, cormorants do not forage over long distances, but instead build their nest adjacent to their food source. They use their high speed to dive quickly underwater and grab fish, or other food. • Possess salt glands that are used to extract salt from any water that they drink. • The throat, or gular pouch, is also used as a signaling device and as a means for cooling the body. By panting and fluttering the gular pouch, blood passing through the rich concentration of capillaries is rapidly cooled. 11/3/2015 White-Breasted Cormorant The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore Lifespan: • Unknown o The oldest recorded wild cormorant lived to be 22, but 15 years is a more likely lifespan Ecosystem relationships: • Predators: Adults are rarely victims to predation, but eggs and juveniles are eaten by a wide variety of animals including bald eagles, white-tailed eagles, red foxes, gulls, and crows. • Interspecies competitors: May compete with other seabirds including gulls, other cormorant species, and kittiwakes. However, they frequently form mixed colonies with these same species for the sake of protection, so the relationship may be mutualistic, or beneficial to both species. • Parasites: Commonly play host to parasitic nematodes (parasitic roundworms) and trematodes (parasitic flatworms). • Role/ Niche: The cormorant helps control fish populations and distributes nutrients from the fish on land. They also sometimes serve as prey for larger animals. Reproduction: • Breeding season: Varies widely depending upon region and subspecies. • Behavior: Pairs are seasonally monogamous. Mating season begins with the male cormorant choosing and defending a nest site, usually on the ground or in a tree. Nests typically consist of sticks and seaweed lined with grass and feathers. Males attract females with a wing-waving motion, alternately showing and hiding the white patches on their thighs with the outstretched wings. Once a pair has been formed, they reinforce the bond with gargling displays, preening, entwining their necks, and other reinforcement displays. Once eggs are laid, both parents incubate and feed their young. Successful mated pairs may return to the same nest site for several years. • Incubation: 28-31 days • Clutch size: 3-6 eggs • Maturation: Chicks are altricial, or helpless, after birth, being both blind and naked. Develop a coat of down after 6 days. Both parents care for the chicks for about 10 days, and at least one parent will remain to brood until the chicks are 2 weeks old. At this point, parents primarily visit the nest to feed and cool the chicks. Feeding is done by regurgitation, and competition develops among clutches for food. The smallest chick in a clutch typically dies because it cannot compete for food, but the other chicks frequently survive. Chicks fledge at 45-55 days, and form crèches, or groups of young, to defend themselves. Adults continue to feed the chicks for 2-3 months, and are able to recognize their offspring within the crèches. Sexual maturity is reached at 2-4 years of age. Activity: • Diurnal o Active during the day 11/3/2015 White-Breasted Cormorant The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore • Social behavior: o Highly social birds that are typically encountered in groups of 20-200 nesting birds, though groups of several thousand birds do occur. These animals are only territorial in the immediate proximity of their nests. Other “fun facts”: • The species’ scientific name is Greek. Phalacrocorax translates to “bald raven” and carbo is “charcoal,” referencing the overall color of the bird. • Cormorants have historically been trained to catch fish and bring them back to their handlers, either for sport or food. This typically involves fastening a ring about the neck of the cormorant to prevent swallowing, but some cormorants are reportedly trained to bring fish back without the use of an inhibitor. These birds eat only every 8th fish that they catch, implying the ability to “count.” Cormorants with clipped wings have been used to drive fish into nets in the Baltic states. Conservation Status and Threats: • Listed on the IUCN Red List as Least Concern. The species’ range is so large and their numbers so high that they cannot be classified under any other category. The most common threat to these animals is persecution from fishermen who believe that the cormorants steal or interfere with their catch. Other threats include disturbance of their habitat and a susceptibility to avian influenza. • No special listing on CITES. • Conservation efforts: o The IUCN suggests that it may be possible to alleviate tension between fishermen and cormorants by disturbing local cormorants so that they move elsewhere, or otherwise discouraging nesting in popular fishing areas. At the Zoo • The Zoo houses five white-breasted cormorants o o One male that hatched in 1999 Four birds that hatched in 2008, two males and two females What We Can Do • • Make environmentally responsible lifestyle decisions to help conserve habitat – conserve energy and resources, reduce litter and pollution. Support the conservation efforts of local organizations like The Maryland Zoo as well as organizations working in the field to protect wildlife and conserve habitat. References: • Animal Diversity Web: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Phalacrocorax_carbo/ • ARKive: http://www.arkive.org/cormorant/phalacrocorax-carbo/ • IUCN Red List: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22696792/0 11/3/2015 White-Breasted Cormorant The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore