Pelicans
are large water birds in the family Pelecanidae. They are characterised
by a long beak and large throat pouch, used in catching, and draining
water from, their prey. The eight living pelican species have a
sometimes patchy global distribution, ranging latitudinally from the
tropics to the temperate zone, though they are absent from much of
interior and southern South America as well as from polar regions and
the open ocean. Fossil evidence of pelicans dates back at least 30
million years, from the remains of a beak very similar to modern species
recovered from Oligocene strata in France.
Pelicans frequent inland and coastal waters where they feed principally on fish. Gregarious birds, they breed colonially and often hunt cooperatively. They have a long history of cultural significance in mythology, and in Christian and heraldic iconography.
Pelicans frequent inland and coastal waters where they feed principally on fish. Gregarious birds, they breed colonially and often hunt cooperatively. They have a long history of cultural significance in mythology, and in Christian and heraldic iconography.
