CreatureData

Sooty albatross

Phoebetria fusca (Hilsenberg, 1822)

ENEndangeredbirds

The sooty albatross (Phoebetria fusca) is a species in the family Diomedeidae, order Procellariiformes. Recorded adults weigh 2.55 kg to 2.77 kg. Its IUCN Red List status is Endangered.

Sooty albatross (Phoebetria fusca)
Photo: frank wouters from antwerpen, belgium , België , Belgique · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the sooty albatross

Weight
2.55 kg – 2.77 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
2 msrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
marinesrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
70.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
1src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
12.5 years – 13.2 yearssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
0.6src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle
Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Partialsrc for Migration
Conservation status
Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the sooty albatross?

SOOTY ALBATROSS · WINGSPAN 2 MADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 2 m, the recorded maximum wingspan of the sooty albatross is about 1.2 times the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the sooty albatross live?

Not recorded

What is the sooty albatross?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The sooty albatross (Phoebetria fusca), also known to sailors as the Quaker, is a species of marine bird belonging to the albatross family Diomedeidae. It is a medium-sized albatross that sports a sooty-brown or sooty-black color. It can be found in the southern Atlantic Ocean, the southern Indian Ocean, and the Southern Ocean. This bird scavenges for squid, fish, and carrion. Like other albatrosses, these birds mate for life and return to the same breeding spots every season. A single pair will mate every other year on a variety of islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean and the southern Indian Ocean islands. This bird is an endangered species and conservation efforts are taking place.

From the Wikipedia article “Sooty albatross” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sooty_albatross&oldid=1379042853), 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 sooty albatross endangered?

The sooty albatross is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

  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 Endangered species. What the categories mean.

How is the sooty albatross classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderProcellariiformes
  5. familyDiomedeidae
  6. genusPhoebetria
  7. SpeciesPhoebetria fusca (Hilsenberg, 1822)

Synonyms Diomedea fusca, Phoebetria fusca campbelli, Phoebetria fusca fusca

Other names and names in other languages (44)
  • Dark-mantled albatrossEnglish
  • Dark-mantled sooty albatrossEnglish
  • Dark-mantled sooty albatrossEnglish
  • Dusky albatrossEnglish
  • BruinalbatrosAfrikaans
  • Bruinmalmok (Bruinalbatros)Afrikaans
  • قطرس داكنArabic
  • Альбатрос дымчатыBelarusian
  • Северен тъмен албатросBulgarian
  • albatros fumatCatalan
  • albatros hnědýCzech
  • albatros duWelsh
  • Mørk SodalbatrosDanish
  • RußalbatrosGerman
  • DunkelalbatrosGerman
  • fulga albatrosoEsperanto
  • Albatros oscuroSpanish
  • Albatros ahumadoSpanish
  • nõgialbatrossEstonian
  • nokialbatrossiFinnish
  • Albatros brunFrench
  • Albatros fuligineux à dos sombreFrench
  • Alabatras súicheachIrish
  • mrki albatrosCroatian
  • füstös albatroszHungarian
  • Albatro fuligginosoItalian
  • Albatros fuligginosoItalian
  • ススイロアホウドリJapanese
  • paprastasis tamsusis albatrosasLithuanian
  • zwarte albatrosDutch
  • sotalbatrossNorwegian
  • albatros brunatnyPolish
  • piau-pretoPortuguese
  • albatroz-pretoPortuguese
  • Дымчатый альбатросRussian
  • Темноспинный дымчатый альбатросRussian
  • albatros sadzovýSlovak
  • sajasti albatrosSlovenian
  • Čađavi albatrosSerbian
  • İsli albatrosTurkish
  • Kara AlbatrosTurkish
  • альбатрос бурийUkrainian
  • 乌信天翁Chinese
  • 烏黑信天翁Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the sooty albatross

Other species in the same genus Phoebetria.

CompareSooty albatross vs Light-mantled albatross

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the sooty albatross?

An adult sooty albatross weighs 2.55 kg – 2.77 kg and has a wingspan of 2 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the sooty albatross endangered?

The sooty albatross is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

What kind of animal is the sooty albatross?

The sooty albatross (Phoebetria fusca) belongs to the family Diomedeidae in the order Procellariiformes.

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). Sooty albatross (Phoebetria fusca). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/sooty-albatross

MLA

“Sooty albatross (Phoebetria fusca).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/sooty-albatross.

BibTeX
@misc{sooty_albatross_2026,
  title = {Sooty albatross (Phoebetria fusca)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/sooty-albatross},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}