Stats

Lifespan

20-25 yrs

Size

Medium

Diet

Carnivore

Activity

Diurnal

Social

Colony

Biome

Marine coastal

Range

Northern Hemisphere

Movement

Flight

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Group defense

Status

Common

About

This large auk lives on rocky coastal cliffs across the northern oceans. It lays a single pear-shaped egg that spins in a circle to prevent it from rolling off the ledge.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg

   A clutch of eggs is incubated in the nest, kept warm by a brooding parent until the chicks pip free.
2. 2.
   hatchling

   A naked or downy hatchling is fed in the nest by its parents.
3. 3.
   juvenile

   A feathered juvenile fledges from the nest and learns to fly and forage.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown with adult plumage.

Learn more

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Alcidae

Genus

Uria

Species

Uria aalge