Brown Pelican

Pelecanus occidentalis

The brown pelican which is scientifically named Pelecanus occidentalis is found throughout the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a coastal bird that lives in around warm shallow waters. An example of a habitat it lives in is the salt marsh. The brown pelicans classification is domain Eukarya, its kingdom is Animalia, its phylum is Chordata, its class is Aves, and its order is Pelecaniformes. Its family is Pelecanidae, its genus is Pelecanus, and lastly its species is Pelecanus occidentalis. The brown pelican has bilateral symmetry, it is endothermic, and it is also heterotrophic. The brown pelican has a long brown body and has a big, long and thick beak. Two structural adaptations about the brown pelican is that it has a very large gular pouch that can catch large amounts of prey. It also has a long wingspan so it can fly fast to catch prey and fly away from predators. The brown pelican also has a behavioral adaptation which is that it dives in the water very fiercely to catch prey by surprise. An interesting fact about the brown pelican is that the juvenile are usually more brown than the adults are. Predators of the brown pelican include, humans, raccoons,  and alligators. Prey of the brown pelican includes medium and small sized fish and small vertebrates. I have highly enjoyed researching this fascinating animal.

I found this image at https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/bpelican/