Dalmatian pelican
Pelecanus crispus Bruch, 1832
The dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus) is a medium-sized bird of the family Pelecanidae in the order Pelecaniformes. It has a wingspan of 3.2 m, with reported values from 2.95 to 3.45 m, and an adult body mass of 9.5 kg.
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Quick facts about the dalmatian pelican
This partially migratory, carnivorous aquatic predator lives in wetland habitat, and its geographic range covers 3,326,000 km². The IUCN Red List classifies it as Near Threatened, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 8.66 kg – 10.6 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 2.95 m – 3.45 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 35.3 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 30.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2 – 2.75src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 2.5 years – 2.74 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the dalmatian pelican?
Photos of the dalmatian pelican
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the dalmatian pelican live?
Not recorded
What is the dalmatian pelican?
The Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus), also known as the curly-headed pelican, is the largest member of the pelican family and among the heaviest flying birds in the world. With a wingspan typically ranging between 2.7 and 3.2 metres (8 ft 10 in and 10 ft 6 in), it ranks among the largest soaring birds. These pelicans are known for their graceful flight and often travel in synchronised flocks. With a range spanning across much of Central Eurasia, from the eastern Mediterranean in the west to the Taiwan Strait in the east, and from the Persian Gulf in the south to Siberia in the north, it is a short-to-medium-distance migrant between breeding and overwintering areas.
As with other pelicans, its diet is mainly fish, and the males are larger than the females. Its curly nape feathers, grey legs and silvery-white plumage are distinguishing features, and the wings appear solid grey in flight. The adults acquire a drabber plumage in winter, however, making them look more similar to the great white pelican. Its harsh vocalizations become more pronounced during the mating season. It breeds across the Palearctic from southeastern Europe to Russia, India and China in swamps and shallow lakes. It usually returns to traditional breeding sites, where it is less social than other pelican species. Its nests are crude heaps of vegetation, which are placed on islands or dense mats of vegetation.
The species' numbers dramatically declined during the 20th century, partly due to land use, disturbance and poaching activities. The core population survives in Russia, but in its Mongolian range, it is critically endangered. Removal of power lines to prevent bird strike or electrocution and constructing nesting platforms or rafts have reversed declines locally.
From the Wikipedia article “Dalmatian pelican” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dalmatian_pelican&oldid=1374554169), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the dalmatian pelican endangered?
The dalmatian pelican is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Near Threatened species. What the categories mean.
How is the dalmatian pelican classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPelecaniformes
- familyPelecanidae
- genusPelecanus
- SpeciesPelecanus crispus Bruch, 1832
Synonyms Pelecanus philippensis crispus
Other names and names in other languages (74)
- Dalmation pelicanEnglish
- بجع بلقانيArabic
- بجع دالماسيArabic
- بجع دلماشياArabic
- بجعة دلماشيةArabic
- بجعة كدراءArabic
- Pelicano griegoAragonese
- pelícanu crespuAsturian
- Пелікан кучаравыBelarusian
- Къдроглав пеликанBulgarian
- Къдровглав пеликанBulgarian
- Pilikant penn fuilhBreton
- pelicà crespCatalan
- Кӑтра пырхуранChuvash
- pelikán kadeřavýCzech
- pelican DalmatiaWelsh
- krøltoppet pelikanDanish
- KrauskopfpelikanGerman
- ΑργυροπελεκάνοςGreek
- krispa pelikanoEsperanto
- Pelícano ceñudoSpanish
- Pelícano RizadoSpanish
- käharpelikanEstonian
- Pelikano ilebihurriBasque
- پلیکان خاکستریPersian
- kiharapelikaaniFinnish
- Pélican friséFrench
- Pelicano crespoGalician
- Dalmatinski pelikan - Далматински пеликанSerbian (Latin)
- שקנאי מסולסלHebrew
- Dalmatinski pelikanCroatian
- borzas gödényHungarian
- Գանգրափետուր հավալուսնArmenian
- Հավալուսն գանգրափետուրArmenian
- HrokkinkaniIcelandic
- Pellicano crespoItalian
- pellicano riccioItalian
- ハイイロペリカンJapanese
- ニシハイイロペリカンJapanese
- Бұйра бірқазанKazakh
- 사다새Korean
- garbanotasis pelikanasLithuanian
- cirtainais pelikānsLatvian
- кадроглав пеликанMacedonian
- झोळीवालाMarathi
- kroeskoppelikaanDutch
- KrøllpelikanNorwegian
- pelikan kędzierzawyPolish
- pelicano-crespoPortuguese
- Pelican creţRomanian
- Pelican crețRomanian
- pelicanul creţRomanian
- Кудрявый пеликанRussian
- кудря́вый пелика́нRussian
- Ошалгы-якшар пеликанRussian
- SmarvepelikánaNorthern Sami
- pelikán kučeravýSlovak
- kodrasti pelikanSlovenian
- paciAlbanian
- bozhoriAlbanian
- laradashiAlbanian
- nositiAlbanian
- panciAlbanian
- pelikani kaçurrelAlbanian
- Kudravi nesitSerbian
- Далматински пеликанSerbian
- krushuvad pelikanSwedish
- tepeli pelikanTurkish
- Кучерявий пеліканUkrainian
- Пелікан кучерявийUkrainian
- 灰鵜鶘Chinese
- 卷羽鵜鶘Chinese
- 卷羽鹈鹕Chinese
- 天馬丁鵜鶘Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the dalmatian pelican
Other species in the same genus Pelecanus.
Great white pelican
Pelecanus onocrotalus
Spot-billed pelican
Pelecanus philippensis
Brown pelican
Pelecanus occidentalis
Australian pelican
Pelecanus conspicillatus
Pink-backed pelican
Pelecanus rufescens
American white pelican
Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
CompareDalmatian pelican vs Great white pelicanDalmatian pelican vs Spot-billed pelicanDalmatian pelican vs Brown pelicanDalmatian pelican vs Australian pelican
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
How big is the dalmatian pelican?
The dalmatian pelican has a wingspan of 3.2 m and an adult body mass of 9.5 kg. Reported wingspans range from 2.95 to 3.45 m.
What does the dalmatian pelican eat?
The dalmatian pelican is a carnivore in the aquatic predator diet category.
Is the dalmatian pelican endangered?
No. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does the dalmatian pelican live?
The dalmatian pelican has a lifespan of 35.3 years.
How many eggs does the dalmatian pelican lay?
The dalmatian pelican lays 2.75 eggs per clutch and has 1 clutch per year. The eggs incubate for 30.5 days.
When does the dalmatian pelican reach sexual maturity?
It reaches sexual maturity at 2.6 years, with reported values from 2.5 to 2.7 years.
Does the dalmatian pelican migrate?
Yes, the dalmatian pelican is partially migratory.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/dalmatian-pelican
“Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/dalmatian-pelican.
@misc{dalmatian_pelican_2026,
title = {Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/dalmatian-pelican},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}