Of the world’s 22 species1 of albatross, nearly half can be found in Aotearoa2. These include the wandering or snowy albatross (Diomedea exulans). Its wingspan of up to 3.5 metres3 makes it the world’s largest living bird – rivalled in size by the southern royal albatross. Other local species include the northern royal albatross (with a wingspan typically closer to 3 metres) and the rare and threatened antipodean albatross.
In 2024 the Science Learning Hub – Pokapū Akoranga Pūtaiao took to the high seas to endorse the mighty toroa/albatross for Bird of the Year!
The ocean life of a toroa
Toroa live wandering lives. Most of the time, they can be found over the ocean feeding on squid and fish and gathering to breed in colonies like the one at Taiaroa Head in Dunedin. Many species fly regularly between New Zealand and South America, and species from here have been spotted as far afield as Africa.
Evolved for flight
Toroa have physiological4 and behavioural adaptations5 that allow them to fly for almost 1,000 kilometres per day without flapping their wings. Tendons in their shoulders lock the wings in place when fully extended, letting them glide effortlessly. They fly in a pattern known as dynamic soaring, utilising altitude6 and wind speed to maintain momentum7 over vast distances.
This requires a keen sense of their own airspeed, made possible by the prominent nostril tubes along the sides of their beaks. They also have saline glands at the base of their beaks, allowing them to consume saltwater and sea creatures and excrete the excess salt.
Toroa in pūrākau and story
The birds are named after a 14th century rangatira named Toroa. He was the captain of the waka Mataatua, which sailed from Hawaiki to Aotearoa with a cargo of precious kūmara. Toroa hold deep significance for many seafaring peoples, featuring in pūrākau8, legends and stories around the world.
Nature of science
Mātauranga Māori9 can be found codified within many pūrākau. Comparing narratives of a topic allows students to unpack the values of different knowledge systems.
Science determines the population10 status of species by observing populations11 and assessing their health. The categories measuring population status are used to communicate species’ chance of survival or extinction12.
One of the best-known stories to feature albatross is Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s 1798 poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, where a toroa helps the crew of a ship trapped in Antarctic ice. The crew later shoot the bird and are cursed to misfortune.
The motif of harm coming to one who harms a toroa also appears in the pūrākau of Pourangahau, who was said to have sailed from Aotearoa to Hawaiki in search of kūmara. Pourangahau was given the kūmara seed13 by a rangatira from Hawaiki who allowed him to carry it home on the back of a toroa.
Disobeying his instructions on how to care for the bird, Pourangahau was responsible for the albatross’s death and his crop14 of kūmara was cursed by blight and insects. This story and that of Toroa link the albatross with the introduction of kūmara to Aotearoa.
Long lives threatened
The natural lifespan of toroa is around 40–50 years but some have been known to live considerably longer. The world’s oldest confirmed wild bird is a Laysan albatross named Wisdom, estimated to be over 70 years. A northern royal albatross named Grandma nested at Taiaroa Head until she was over 60 years.
The Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai lists toroa at the Nationally Vulnerable level of threatened species. Immediate threats to their survival include bycatch15 from fishing boats and ocean pollution in the form of plastics that can be ingested16 by the birds.
Their habitats17 are also under threat from climate change18. Scientists use satellites to monitor the birds’ habitats and flight paths. This data19 can be used to ensure that areas like Taiaroa Head and the Chatham Islands remain safe for toroa to nest and breed.
Toroa – Bird of the Year
Forest & Bird’s yearly Bird of the Year contest is a fun and world-famous way of communicating facts and knowledge about our amazing manu. In previous years, the Science Learning Hub has supported takahē, ruru and the extinct huia in 2023’s Bird of the Century contest.
Whichever bird you vote for, learning and sharing facts about Aotearoa’s native20 birds is a great way to support our taiao21. There are lots of other ways to take action and champion kaitiakitanga22 in Aotearoa. For their record size, amazing adaptations and far-flying ways, our vote went to toroa for Bird of the Year 2024!
Related content
Explore how technology is used to monitor toroa populations in the article Analysing satellite data for albatross research and find out how technologies are helping the toroa.
Plan a topic around toroa, including the Science Learning Hub’s resources and programmes offered by the Royal Albatross Centre.
Ngā manu feature significantly in ao Māori – read about the toroa.
Discover more about Conserving our native birds – this is a great introduction to our wide range of resources.
Explore the science concepts that underpin knowledge and understanding about birds and their structure, function and adaptations.
Useful links
He kōrero pūrākau nō te ao Māori – a recorded series featuring pūrākau retold in English by broadcaster and Māori scholar Wiremu (Bill) Parker (Ngāti Porou).
Te Ara’s entry on albatross.
Royal Cam – the Department of Conservation’s 24-hour livestream of an albatross nest at Taiaroa Head.
A fisher’s guide: New Zealand seabirds – a Department of Conservation resource with information and conservation23 data about all species of toroa found in Aotearoa.
- species: (Abbreviation sp. or spp.) A division used in the Linnean system of classification or taxonomy. A group of living organisms that can interbreed to produce viable offspring.
- Aotearoa: The Māori name for New Zealand, meaning Land of the Long White Cloud.
- metre: The base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI).
- physiological: The function of organs and organ systems and how they work within a living organism to respond to external and internal challenges.
- adaptation: A change in the structure or function of something. In biology, a change in a species, as a result of natural selection. Individuals with a particular feature (adaptation) are more likely to survive and reproduce than individuals without this feature.
- altitude: 1. The height of something, usually height above sea level. 2. In astronomy, the angular distance of a natural or artificial satellite above the horizon.
- momentum: The property of a moving object that keeps it moving until a force changes that motion. Momentum is equal to mass (kg) x velocity (m/s).
- pūrākau: Traditional narrative, story.
- mātauranga Māori: A contemporary term referring to Māori knowledge, Māori ways of knowing and associated practice.
- population: In biology, a population is a group of organisms of a species that live in the same place at a same time and that can interbreed.
- population: In biology, a population is a group of organisms of a species that live in the same place at a same time and that can interbreed.
- extinction: In biology, the death of the last remaining individual of a species.
- seed: 1. Part of the sexual reproduction of angiosperms (flowering plants) and gymnosperms (cone plants). Contains an embryo and its food store, which creates a new plant when conditions are right. 2. Offspring or progeny.
- crop: 1. In agriculture, a cultivated plant that is grown on a large, commercial scale. The term most often refers to cereals, fruits and vegetables. 2. A compartment of muscle tissue that birds use to store and soften their food before it moves on to be processed by the gizzard.
- bycatch: Also called incidental catch. The harvest of fish or shellfish other than the species for which the fishing gear was set.
- ingestion:
- The process of taking a substance into the mouth or body.
- The process or act of engulfing particles by cells.
- habitat: The natural environment in which an organism lives.
- climate change: The large-scale, long-term increase in the Earth’s average temperatures, with associated changes in weather patterns. There is significant scientific evidence that warming is due to increased quantities of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, with most of the rise due to human activity.
- data: The unprocessed information we analyse to gain knowledge.
- native: A species that lives naturally in a country, as opposed to species that have been introduced by the activity of humans.
- taiao: The natural world, Earth.
- kaitiakitanga: A Māori term that encompasses ideas about care and guardianship of the sea, sky and land – the environment. Kaitiaki refers to those who carry out kaitiakitanga such as tangata whenua (people of the land).
- conservation: The protection, preservation and careful management of a species, habitat, artifact or taonga.
