Bananas for Scale
Pelican

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Pelican

A waterbird with a throat pouch that holds more than its stomach/Small Animals

Pelicans are large waterbirds in the family Pelecanidae, famous for their enormous throat pouches used for catching fish. The pouch of the Australian pelican can hold up to 13 liters of water, roughly three times the capacity of its stomach. There are eight living species, found on every continent except Antarctica. The Dalmatian pelican, the largest species, has a wingspan of up to 3.5 meters, making it one of the heaviest flying birds. Pelicans fish cooperatively, herding schools of fish into shallow water.

Measurements

Body length1.7 m
1,700Poppy seeds
1.9 tenthsRV lengths
3.4 tenthsBeaver dam lengths
Wingspan3.3 m
27.5Candy bar lengths
412,500Red blood cells
3.3 tenthsFire engine lengths
Body mass12 kg
8 thousandthsSedans
24Burritos
40 billionthsSupertanker loads
Pouch capacity1.3 hundredths m^3
37.1Coffee mugs
43.3Pool noodle hollows
1.3Watermelons

About 13 liters

Bill length4.7 tenths m
9.4 hundredthsBamboo pole lengths
47 billionHard X-ray wavelengths
18.1Guitar picks
Lifespan788 million s
13.1 millionMinutes
218,889Lunch breaks
62.5Semesters

About 25 years

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