The Atlantic puffin is a small seabird of the auk family with a big red-and-black beak. It nests in burrows on North Atlantic coasts and islands and dives for fish, swimming underwater with its wings.
Quick answers
What is it?Bird
Carnivore?Yes
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Daytime
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?In places
Coastal peoples once took young puffins from their nests to eat.
At a glance
Found inArctic, Europe, North America
HabitatCoast, Open ocean
ColoursBlack, White, Orange
SizeSmall
WeightAbout 500 g
Legs2
Covered inFeathers
Lives incolonies
Lives for20–25 years
Can fly
Can swim
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- North Atlantic coasts: Iceland, Norway, Britain, Ireland, the Faroes, Greenland and Canada, south to Maine and Brittany.
- What it eats
- Small fish, zooplankton and crabs, caught by diving.
- Conservation
- Vulnerable (IUCN Red List)
Did you know
Its bright beak plates are shed after breeding and grow back each spring.
Hunting trips can take it 100 km or more from the nest.
Often confused with
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