AnimalvsAnimal
Razorbill with a nice catch🐦

Photo: neekoh.fi · CC BY 2.0

SpeciesCharadriiformesAlcidae
Birds

🐦Razorbill

Alca torda Linnaeus, 1758

The razorbill is a North Atlantic colonial seabird and the only extant member of the genus Alca of the family Alcidae, the auks. It is the closest living relative of the extinct great auk. Historically, it has also been known as "auk", "razor-billed auk" and "lesser auk".

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
3
Photos
3
Measurements
13
vs you
≈ 1/85th of your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2021.

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

Everything we know about the Razorbill

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

Body mass
0.73 kgrecord 0.72 kg · SeaLifeBase
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Record: largest individual on record

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

Figures vary

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

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

Tail length
0.09 m
AVONET
Details ↓

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

Wing length
0.21 m
AVONET
Details ↓

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

Beak length
0.04 m
AVONET
Details ↓

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

Tarsus length
0.03 m
AVONET
Details ↓

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

Maximum lifespan
42 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
1
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
Marine
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
0.7 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 Razorbill yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classAves
  4. ›orderCharadriiformes
  5. ›familyAlcidae
  6. ›genusAlca
  7. ›speciesAlca torda
Full lineage
  1. superclassTetrapoda
  2. orderSauria
  3. classBirds · Aves
  4. genusAlca
All 10 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. classBirds · Aves
  10. genusAlca
More

More about the Razorbill

In other languages
Alka zwyczajna (pl), Petit Pingouin (fr), Alca torda (es), alka (hu), Alca torda (it), Arao romeiro (gl) … and 25 more languages
More photos
Razorbill with a nice catchPhotograph of a razorbillPhotograph of a razorbill
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Scaling lab

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Tree of life

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