Scientific name: Pelecanus onocrotalus
The great white pelican is a huge bird. The wingspan can range from 226 to 360 cm (7.41 to 11.81 ft), with the latter measurement the largest recorded among extant flying animals outside of the great albatrosses.
Immature great white pelicans are grey and have dark flight feathers. In flight, it is an elegant soaring bird, with the head held close to and aligned with the body by a downward bend in the neck. In breeding condition the male has pinkish skin on its face and the female has orangey skin.
In southern Africa, it is locally fairly common in eastern and southern Mozambique, Zimbabwe, the northern half of Botswana, Namibia and both the far west and far east of South Africa. It generally prefers shallow lakes, estuaries, flood plain pans, dams, sheltered coastal bays and lagoons.
It almost exclusively eats fish, foraging throughout the day by itself or in a group, since by cooperating they can herd fish shoals into shallow water. The large gular pouch beneath its bill is used to trap fish, so that it can lift or jerk its head to swallow the prey item whole. It also scavenges and kills animals while ashore, often working cooperatively to raid other birds' nests of chicks and eggs. This behaviour appears to be taught from one generation to the next, as in some colonies they do not do it at all.
