Great shearwater
Ardenna gravis (O'Reilly, 1818)
The great shearwater (Ardenna gravis) is a species in the family Procellariidae, order Procellariiformes. Recorded adults weigh 849 g to 880 g and live up to 7.08 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
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Quick facts about the great shearwater
- Weight
- 849 g – 880 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 7.08 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 7.1 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- marinesrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 54 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Where does the great shearwater live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The great shearwater is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the great shearwater?
The great shearwater (Ardenna gravis) is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It breeds colonially on rocky islands in the South Atlantic. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely in the Atlantic.
From the Wikipedia article “Great shearwater” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_shearwater&oldid=1369131145), 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 great shearwater endangered?
The great shearwater is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- 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 Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the great shearwater classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderProcellariiformes
- familyProcellariidae
- genusArdenna
- SpeciesArdenna gravis (O'Reilly, 1818)
Synonyms Ardenna gravis gravis, Procellaria gravis, Puffinus gravis, Puffinus major
Other names and names in other languages (59)
- Greater shearwaterEnglish
- Wandering shearwaterEnglish
- GrootpylstormvoëlAfrikaans
- جلم الماء كبيرArabic
- pardiella sureñaAsturian
- Буравеснік вялікіBelarusian
- Голям буревестникBulgarian
- Tort brasBreton
- Virot capnegreCatalan
- baldriga capnegraCatalan
- buřňák velkýCzech
- Adar Drycin MawrWelsh
- Aderyn Drycin MawrWelsh
- StorskråpeDanish
- KappensturmtaucherGerman
- Großer SturmtaucherGerman
- ΚαπελόμυχοςGreek
- granda pufinoEsperanto
- Pardela mayorSpanish
- Fardela capirotadaSpanish
- Pampero capirotadoSpanish
- Pardela cabeza negraSpanish
- Pardela capirotadaSpanish
- mustkõht-tormilindEstonian
- Gabai handiBasque
- Gabai handiaBasque
- isoliitäjäFinnish
- StórskrápurFaroese
- Puffin majeurFrench
- Cánóg mhórIrish
- Sgrail mòrScottish Gaelic
- Pardela encapuchadaGalician
- Scraayl mooarManx
- יסעור שחור-כיפהHebrew
- crnokapi zovojCroatian
- nagy vészmadárHungarian
- HettuskrofaIcelandic
- Berta dell'AtlanticoItalian
- ズグロミズナギドリJapanese
- QaqullunnaqKalaallisut
- didžioji audronašaLithuanian
- lielais vētrasputnsLatvian
- Grote PijlstormvogelDutch
- storlireNorwegian
- Capiadó GrandiPapiamento
- Kapiadó GrandiPapiamento
- burzyk wielkiPolish
- pardela-de-barretePortuguese
- Пестробрюхий буревестникRussian
- Большой пестробрюхий буревестникRussian
- StuorrasaddiNorthern Sami
- víchrovník atlantickýSlovak
- veliki viharnikSlovenian
- Veliki zovojSerbian
- större liraSwedish
- Büyük YelkovanTurkish
- буревісник великийUkrainian
- 大鸌Chinese
- 大鹱Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the great shearwater
Other species in the same genus Ardenna.
Sooty shearwater
Ardenna grisea
Short-tailed shearwater
Ardenna tenuirostris
Wedge-tailed shearwater
Ardenna pacifica
Flesh-footed shearwater
Ardenna carneipes
Buller's shearwater
Ardenna bulleri
Pink-footed shearwater
Ardenna creatopus
CompareGreat shearwater vs Sooty shearwaterGreat shearwater vs Short-tailed shearwaterGreat shearwater vs Wedge-tailed shearwaterGreat shearwater vs Flesh-footed shearwater
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the great shearwater?
An adult great shearwater weighs 849 g – 880 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the great shearwater live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the great shearwater for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the great shearwater endangered?
The great shearwater is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the great shearwater live?
The great shearwater has a recorded lifespan of 7.08 years.
What kind of animal is the great shearwater?
The great shearwater (Ardenna gravis) belongs to the family Procellariidae in the order Procellariiformes.
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).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Great shearwater (Ardenna gravis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-shearwater
“Great shearwater (Ardenna gravis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-shearwater.
@misc{great_shearwater_2026,
title = {Great shearwater (Ardenna gravis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/great-shearwater},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}