BirdUp · Species
Amsterdam Albatross
Diomedea amsterdamensisRoux, JP, Jouventin, Mougin, Stahl & Weimerskirch, 1983
- Order
- PROCELLARIIFORMES
- Family
- Diomedeidae
- Genus
- Diomedea
- Conservation
- Endangered
- Commonness
- Rare
01 · Identification
How to tell it apart
The Amsterdam albatross or Amsterdam Island albatross, is a large albatross which breeds only on Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean. It was only described in 1983, and was thought by some researchers to be a subspecies of the wandering albatross, D. exulans. BirdLife International and the IOC recognize it as a species, James Clements does not, and the SACC has a proposal on the table to split the species. More recently, mitochondrial DNA comparisons between the Amsterdam albatross, the wandering albatross Diomedea exulans, the Antipodean albatross D. antipodensis and the Tristan albatross D. dabbenena, provide clear genetic evidence that the Amsterdam albatross is a separate species.
Description · wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
02 · Where
Where to find it
- Breeding range
- Amsterdam I. (south-central Indian Ocean)
- Non-breeding range
- South-central Indian Ocean to west Australian waters
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