CreatureData

Peruvian pelican

Pelecanus thagus Molina, 1782

NTNear Threatenedbirds

The peruvian pelican (Pelecanus thagus) is a species in the family Pelecanidae, order Pelecaniformes. Recorded adults weigh 3.16 kg to 3.7 kg and live up to 31.1 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Near Threatened.

Peruvian pelican (Pelecanus thagus)
Photo: Manuel González Olaechea y Franco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the peruvian pelican

Weight
3.16 kg – 3.7 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
2.28 msrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
31.1 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
43 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
marinesrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
29.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
2.6 – 7src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
12 months – 2 yearssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle
Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the peruvian pelican?

PERUVIAN PELICAN · WINGSPAN 2.28 MADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 2.28 m, the recorded maximum wingspan of the peruvian pelican is about 1.3 times the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the peruvian pelican live?

Not recorded

What is the peruvian pelican?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The Peruvian pelican (Pelecanus thagus) is a member of the pelican family. It lives on the west coast of South America, breeding in loose colonies from about 33.5 degrees south in central Chile to Piura in northern Peru, and occurring as a visitor in southern Chile and Ecuador. It used to be considered a subspecies of the brown pelican.

From the Wikipedia article “Peruvian pelican” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peruvian_pelican&oldid=1380561856), 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 peruvian pelican endangered?

The peruvian pelican is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Near Threatened species.

How is the peruvian pelican classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderPelecaniformes
  5. familyPelecanidae
  6. genusPelecanus
  7. SpeciesPelecanus thagus Molina, 1782

Synonyms Pelecanus barbieri, Pelecanus landbecki, Pelecanus occidentalis thagus

Other names and names in other languages (41)
  • بجع البيروArabic
  • البجع البيروفىEgyptian Arabic
  • Перуански пеликанBulgarian
  • pelicà del PerúCatalan
  • pelikán chilskýCzech
  • pelican PeriwWelsh
  • PerupelikanDanish
  • ChilepelikanGerman
  • perua pelikanoEsperanto
  • Pelicano pardoSpanish
  • PelícanoSpanish
  • Pelícano alcatrazSpanish
  • Pelícano de HumboldtSpanish
  • Pelícano pardoSpanish
  • Pelícano peruanoSpanish
  • GuaanopelikanEstonian
  • guaanopelikan (lõuna-pruunpelikan)Estonian
  • پلیکان پروییPersian
  • perunpelikaaniFinnish
  • Pélican thageFrench
  • שקנאי פרואניHebrew
  • južnoamerički nesitCroatian
  • déli gödényHungarian
  • Pellicano del PerùItalian
  • ペルーペリカンJapanese
  • peruvinis pelikanasLithuanian
  • Перу пеликанWestern Mari
  • HumboldtpelikaanDutch
  • Peruaanse PelikaanDutch
  • humboldtpelikanNorwegian
  • pelikan chilijskiPolish
  • دکھنی امریکی پیلیکانWestern Panjabi
  • pelicano-peruanoPortuguese
  • Перуанский пеликанRussian
  • pelikán bledohlavýSlovak
  • Peruanski nesitSerbian
  • Peru PelikanıTurkish
  • пелікан перуанськийUkrainian
  • Bồ nông PeruVietnamese
  • 秘魯鵜鶘Chinese
  • 秘鲁鹈鹕Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the peruvian pelican

Other species in the same genus Pelecanus.

ComparePeruvian pelican vs Great white pelicanPeruvian pelican vs Dalmatian pelicanPeruvian pelican vs Spot-billed pelicanPeruvian pelican vs Brown pelican

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the peruvian pelican?

An adult peruvian pelican weighs 3.16 kg – 3.7 kg and has a wingspan of 2.28 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the peruvian pelican endangered?

The peruvian pelican is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is close to qualifying as threatened.

How long does the peruvian pelican live?

The peruvian pelican has a recorded lifespan of 31.1 years.

What kind of animal is the peruvian pelican?

The peruvian pelican (Pelecanus thagus) belongs to the family Pelecanidae in the order Pelecaniformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Peruvian pelican (Pelecanus thagus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/peruvian-pelican

MLA

“Peruvian pelican (Pelecanus thagus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/peruvian-pelican.

BibTeX
@misc{peruvian_pelican_2026,
  title = {Peruvian pelican (Pelecanus thagus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/peruvian-pelican},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}