Pelecanus erythrorhynchos Gmelin, 1789
American white pelican
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Family:  Pelecanidae (pelicans)
Max. size:  178 cm TL (male/unsexed); max.weight: 5,900.0 g
Environment:  others; marine
Distribution:  Eastern Pacific and Western Atlantic: Belize and Puerto Rico.
Diagnosis:  Culmen: 38.1 cm; tarsus: 11.85 cm; wing: 62.23 cm.
Biology:  Total Length: 127 to 178 cm; Wingspan: 244 to 299 cm (Ref. 8812). Coastal; <50 km (Ref. 356). Migration route from northern and central Canada and the US unto the southern states of Baja and into the Gulf of Mexico. Grows a bill horn in preparation for courtship which is shed after incubation commences. Pre-pairing procedure involving complex communal interactions, chases, and terrestrial, aquatic and aerial processions. Extra-pair copulation rare. Embryos are exceptionally known to elicit parental incubation behavior by vocalizing. Mortality rate of immature birds is 41% in the first year. The pesticide DDT in the 1960s caused egg-shell thinning such that they broke during incubation (Ref. 87784). Displays surface seizing (Ref. 356).
IUCN Red List Status: (LC); Date assessed: 01 October 2016 Ref. 123251)
Threat to humans: 
Country info:   
 

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