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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing boobies. These birds have their funny name because of their funny attitude. Sailors considered these animals “foolish” because they would land on ships and allow themselves to be easily caught and killed for the sailors to eat. Thus, these boobish birds got the name booby. Boobies look similar to gannets with whom they share a taxonomic family. However, these two groups are separated into different genera - though it did take over a century for them to get to this point. Gannets are migratory where boobies aren’t and gannets are relatively the same size across sexes while boobies are sexually dimorphic with females appearing larger than males. Gannets are also usually lighter colored, but some boobies are also white so it makes the distinction difficult to distinguish - hence their classification being turbulent for so long!

There are six booby species in the Sula genus and another classified on its own in its own genus. These birds live worldwide in coast habitats including islands as well as on the open ocean - not unlike puffins who spend a large part of their lives at sea. Outside of the breeding season, boobies may travel on their own or in small groups, however they can form massive roosting groups during the breeding season which may last upwards of 40 weeks. Booby pairs are considered “monogamous” but this seems to be loosely applied in the case of these birds. Boobies will quickly turn to infidelity if a mate stays out for food for too long, however there is evidence that male boobies will destroy eggs if they determine the chicks inside are not their own offspring - animals have some crazy senses for this kind of stuff…

Both mates incubate the eggs and they’ll use their giant feet to keep the eggs warm. Most boobies are ground layers, but red footed boobies lay their eggs in trees. The bright feet of boobies come into play for mating. The males with the brightest feet get the girls; they’ll do little dances with their feet to entice the female. Their feet are also made of four webbed toes as opposed to the typical three in many other waterfowl. After about 50 days, the eggs hatch. At first the babies are featherless, but they quickly grow a soft layer of white down. This is eventually molted to reveal their juvenile colors. The babies stick with their parents for at least 100 days until they can find food on their own, but many stick around longer for more food handouts. In total, boobies live fifteen to twenty years in the wild.

Booby babies are vulnerable to attacks from hawks and owls while parents are out foraging. These birds can also be taken by condors, rats, cats, gulls, and even each other. In turn, these birds take to diving to catch their prey. They’ll hover above the ocean’s surface and dive up to 82 feet (25m) headfirst into the water. Boobies eat mostly fish like sardines, anchovies, and mackerels and they also take squids. Booby poop, also known as guano, is collected by humans for use in fertilizer!

For more facts on boobies, check out the links in the description. Thank you to jogalfaith, zaima, rajab, and ogBanyu for today’s request! Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!