Pelican (Brown)

About the Pelican (Brown)

They dive from 20 meters, hitting the water at 60 km/h, their throat pouch expanding to hold 11 liters of water. DDT nearly wiped them out in the 1960s - their eggshells became too thin to survive. After DDT was banned, they recovered spectacularly. They are the smallest of 8 pelican species. Their pouch can hold 3x what their stomach can. They are the only pelican that plunge-dives. They have air sacs under their skin that cushion the impact of diving. They live 25+ years. They are the state bird of Louisiana. Their population is now stable at over 600,000.