What shape is an albatross?

Albatross is a general term for more than a dozen large seabirds. The albatross looks a bit like a seagull when it flies, but it is much bigger than a seagull. There is no blood relationship between them. Albatrosses have tubular nostrils, powerful mouths and hooks at the front end, which are suitable for fishing. Their feathers are very dull, mainly gray, white and black. Although the albatross is ugly, it is the most perfect glider created by nature.

Albatrosses love the sea so much that they soar on the sea almost every day. The flight power of albatrosses comes from winds of different speeds on the sea. They first flew higher than the sea, where the wind speed was higher, and they glided down with the wind. Because of the wind, the speed of sliding down is getting faster and faster. At the moment of approaching the sea surface, the albatross turned around and glided upward against the wind. The wind near the sea surface is relatively mild because of the friction of the waves. Albatrosses can rely on inertia to rise to the high altitude with high wind speed again, then turn around, slide down and soar up. They can fly around the sea effortlessly without flapping their wings for hours.

The reason why the albatross becomes such a perfect "glider" is inseparable from its body structure that is highly adapted to gliding life. Albatrosses have big heads, short tails and long and narrow wings. The largest albatross can spread its wings 3.4 meters long and only 0.5 meters wide. This structure is suitable for the changeable airflow on the sea surface and can make beautiful flight performance. In order to conquer the sky, humans have conducted in-depth research on the flight mechanism of albatrosses, and made gliders by imitating the shape of albatrosses, but their ability to use the changeable airflow to power flight still amazes people.