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American White Pelican🦩

Photo: Manjith Kainickara · CC BY-SA 2.0

SpeciesPelecaniformesPelecanidae
Birds

🦩American White Pelican

Pelecanus erythrorhynchos Gmelin, 1789

Der Nashornpelikan (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) ist einer der größten Wasservögel der Welt.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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None yet
Photos
1
Measurements
13
vs you
≈ 1/11th of your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2025.

Population trendIncreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
5.61 kg
Body length
1.78 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
54 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the American White Pelican

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
5.61 kgrecord 5.9 kg · SeaLifeBase
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

By sex

  • Male6.92 kgWikidataQ735190
  • Female4.97 kgWikidataQ735190

Figures vary

  • 6.13 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
1.78 mmaximum recorded, total length
SeaLifeBase
Details ↓

Source: SeaLifeBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Tail length
0.15 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.56 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.32 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.12 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
54 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Gestation
36 days
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Litter size
about 2
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
Carnivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Wetland
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Aquatic
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
5.6 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for American White Pelican yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classAves
  4. ›orderPelecaniformes
  5. ›familyPelecanidae
  6. ›genusPelecanus
  7. ›speciesPelecanus erythrorhynchos
Full lineage
  1. orderSauria
  2. classBirds · Aves
  3. familyPelecanidae
  4. genusPelecanus
All 11 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. classBirds · Aves
  10. familyPelecanidae
  11. genusPelecanus
More

More about the American White Pelican

In other languages
pelicà blanc americà (ca), pelikán severoamerický (cs), Amerikansk Hvid Pelikan (da), Nashornpelikan (de), Pelecanus erythrorhynchos (es), amerikanpelikaani (fi) … and 24 more languages
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