Australasian Gannet - Citizendia

Australasian Gannet

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Pelecaniformes
Family:	Sulidae
Genus:	Morus
Species:	M. The conservation status of a Species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species remaining extant either in the present day or the near future Least Concern ( LC) is an IUCN category assigned to extant species or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category Chordates ( Phylum Chordata) are a group of Animals that includes the Vertebrates together with several closely related Invertebrates Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. The Pelecaniformes are an order of medium-sized and large waterbirds found worldwide The Bird family Sulidae comprises the Gannets and boobies. Both groups are medium-large coastal Seabirds that plunge-dive for fish Gannets are Seabirds in the family Sulidae, closely related to the boobies. serrator

Binomial name

Morus serrator
Gray, 1843

The Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator or Sula bassana, also Australian Gannet, Tākapu) is a large seabird of the gannet family Sulidae. George Robert Gray FRS ( July 8, 1808 - May 6, 1872) was an English zoologist and Author and Seabirds are Birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment Gannets are Seabirds in the family Sulidae, closely related to the boobies.

Young birds are black in their first year, and gradually acquire more white in subsequent seasons until they reach maturity after five years.

Adults have a white body with dark wing tips, and the head is yellow with a pale blue-grey bill.

Their breeding habitat is on islands off Victoria, Tasmania and New Zealand. Tasmania is an Australian island and state of the same name It is located south of the eastern side of the Continent, being separated from it by Bass New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island They normally nest in large colonies on coastal islands.

Gannet pairs may remain together over several seasons. They perform elaborate greeting rituals at the nest, stretching their bills and necks skywards and gently tapping bills together. The adults mainly stay close to colonies, whilst the younger birds disperse.

These birds are plunge divers and spectacular fishers, plunging into the ocean at high speed. They mainly eat squid and small fish which school near the surface. Squid are marine Cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species The SWARM Remote Weapon System (Stabilised Weapon And Reconnaissance Mount is a fully armored Remote weapon system designed and built by the Thales Group in

Numbers of Australasian Gannet have been increasing since 1950, although some colonies have disappeared and others have decreased in size.

References

BirdLife International (2004). Morus serrator. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data List) created in 1963 is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

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