Northern royal albatross
| Northern royal albatross | |
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| Northern royal albatross with red-billed gull | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Procellariiformes |
| Family: | Diomedeidae |
| Genus: | Diomedea |
| Species: | D. sanfordi |
| Binomial name | |
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Diomedea sanfordi (Murphy, 1917) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Diomedea epomophora sanfordi(Murphy, 1917) |
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Diomedea epomophora sanfordi(Murphy, 1917)
The northern royal albatross or toroa,Diomedea sanfordi, is a large seabird from the albatross family. It was split from the closely related southern royal albatross as recently as 1998, though not all scientists support that conclusion and consider both of them to be subspecies of the royal albatross.
Diomedea sanfordi breaks into Diomedea referring to Diomedes, whose companions turned to birds, and sanfordi" in honor of Leonard Cutler Sanford (1868-1950), ornithologist, and trustee of the American Museum of Natural History.
Albatrosses belong to Diomedeidae family and come from the Procellariiformes order, along with shearwaters, fulmars, storm petrels, and diving petrels. They share certain identifying features. First, they have nasal passages that attach to the upper bill called naricorns. Although the nostrils on the albatross are on the sides of the bill. The bills of Procellariiformes are also unique in that they are split into between seven and nine horny plates. Finally, they produce a stomach oil made up of wax esters and triglycerides that is stored in the proventriculus. This is used against predators as well as an energy rich food source for chicks and for the adults during their long flights.
The northern royal albatross was first described as Diomedea sanfordi by Robert Cushman Murphy, in 1917, based on a specimen from the Chatham Islands.
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