Get Albatross Bolus Dissection Activity Sheet Answer Key

What Are Boluses? Albatrosses feed their fast growing chicks by regurgitating lots of squid, flying fish eggs and fish larva into their chick's mouth. The indigestible material that is "thrown up" is called a bolus.

Overview. Much like an owl pellet, a bolus is all the indigestible material that is "thrown up" by an albatross. Shaped like a fat cigar, one can dissect a bolus to assess the health of our ocean, the foraging ground for thousands of albatross trying to gather enough food to feed their hungry chicks.

watersheds, gyres, and.or the data that they collected from their boluses, e.g., types of plastic items. In several scientific studies since 2008, biologists found that 100% of boluses thrown up by albatross chicks in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands contained plastic trash and 52–66% of the bolus weight was plastic.

What Are Boluses? Albatrosses feed their fast growing chicks by regurgitating lots of squid, flying fish eggs and fish larva into their chick‛s mouth. Much like an owl pellet, a bolus is all the indigestible material that is “thrown up” by the juvenile chick.

In several scientific studies since 2008, biologists found that 100% of boluses thrown up by albatross chicks in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands contained plastic trash and 52–66% of the bolus weight was plastic.

Boluses provide a record of the items ingested by the chick, including squid beaks, pumice, and fish bones that came from parents' foraging trips at sea. Other animals have also evolved similar mechanisms to remove indigestible items from their stomachs. Owl pellets and cat fur balls are familiar examples.

Concentrating nutrients for chicks Like most birds, albatross regurgitate food for their young. Occasionally a parent may struggle to regurgitate food for their chick. To help, you might see them shake their heads from side to side.