The world is full of different species and each one is unique and attractive in its way. We generally talk about wings, color, and size but, some animals have a throat pouch as a distinguishing feature. This pouch joins the lower beak to the neck which is used for storing food. Here are some of the animals with gular pouch.
Animals with Gular Pouch
1. Great White Pelican
The great white Pelican can grow as long as 55 to 71 inches and weighs around 9 kg. It has a wingspan of 7.5 to 11.8 feet with a life expectancy of 51 years. It is found in freshwater lakes, swamps, and marshes of Asia, Europe, and Africa. It has an enormous body covered with gray and black feathers, a small pinkish tail, and webbed feet. Its bill is blue on the upper side and yellow on the underside and an oversized pouch is also present.
It uses its bill to create a large pouch to catch its prey. Whenever the pelican pushes its bill under the water, its lower bill blows out creating a large pouch and as it lifts its head, this pouch contracts pushing the water out, but the fish remains entrapped. It is a carnivorous bird nourishing fish, cichlids, and carp.
2. Blue Jay
Blue Jay grows as long as 9-12 inches and weighs 0.07-0.11 kg. It is found in forests of Eastern North America with a life expectancy of around 20 years. It has beautiful blue feathers present on its crest, wings, and tail. Also, the wings and tails have black, white, and blue stripes and a grayish belly. It feeds on a variety of fruits, nuts, seeds, and small animals. It is an intelligent, smart, and beautiful social bird that typically lives in small flocks. It has a large throat pouch which it uses to store seeds and nuts.
Also Read: 10 Coolest Animals Most People haven’t heard of
3. Florida Brown Pelican
Florida Brown Pelican is one of the water-diving birds that can grow as long as 39-53 inches and weigh 2-5 kg. It is found in tropical marshes, swamps, the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans of North America, the Pacific Coast, and the Gulf Coast with a life expectancy of 3-5 years. It is a huge bird with a big head, a long bill, and a large gular pouch.
Its gular pouch is capable of holding 3 gallons of water at a time and is dark gray to green which turns to bright red during breeding. During diving, its pouch drains extra water and traps fish in it. During the initial years, its underside is white and turns to gray-brown with black and silver stripes in 3-5 years.
Also Read: 10 Amazing Furry Animals in the World
4. Frigate bird
A Frigate bird is one of the black birds with a red chest that can grow 39-90 inches long and weighs 1.3-1.8 kg. It is found on the tropical shorelines of the United States, Brazil, Mexico, and Galapagos Island. This sea bird has a life expectancy of around 30 years. It is identified by its bright red throat pouch present in males which enlarges to attract females as females lack a throat pouch. It is black to brown with pink feet and legs in males and bluish-gray in females. Due to its smaller legs, it glides along the shorelines of oceans and seas. It is a carnivorous bird that dives into the water to catch small fishes, squids, and crustaceans.
5. Wreathed hornbill
Wreathed hornbill can grow 29-39 inches tall and weigh 2 to 3 kg. it is found in mountains, evergreen forests, zoos, and trees of South East Asia, Bhutan, and Eastern India with a life expectancy of 40-50 years. It is black with a small white tail. The male wreathed hornbill has a brown forehead, large circular eyes, and a bright yellow throat while the female has a bright blue throat. Both have bluish-black stripes running through the bottom and creamy white bill. Its red eyes give it fierce looks and feeds on figs, fruits, berries, beetles, frogs, and insects.
Image Source: Wikimedia
6. White Ibis
White Ibis can grow 21 to 28 inches long and weigh around 1 kg with a life expectancy of 6-20 years. It is found in wetlands, salt water, coastline, mangroves, and shallow water of North and South America especially Florida. It is completely white with black-edged wings; the skin around its eyes is bright red. It has a football-shaped body with a curved bill. Its white body with a tint of red adds beauty to it. It feeds on crabs, insects, small fishes, frogs, and other marine species.
Also Read: All You Need To Know About Amphibians vs Reptiles
Image Source: James St. John
7. Marabou Stork
Marabou stork is one of the ugly baby animals that can grow as long as 47 to 51 inches long and weighs 4 to 8 kg. It is found in arid habitats, landfills, and near human habitation in sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest stork bird with a life expectancy of 25 years. It is a massive bird with scabby skin, a long bill, round head. It has a long reddish pouch hanging down its neck and helps the bird to produce guttural croaking. It is also known as the undertaker bird because when it is seen from the back, it resembles a shroud. It feeds on fish, insects, garbage, pigeons, flamingoes, and pelicans.
Image Source: Wikimedia
8. Siamang
Siamang can grow 24 to 36 inches long and weighs around 10 kg. It is found in rainforests of Southeast Asia and has a life expectancy of around 40 years. It has a long, black, shaggy coat all over the skin with pale hair around the chin and mouth. It is known for its pinkish throat sac which gets inflated during vocalization and grows as big as a grapefruit. Siamang can also be distinguished by webbing between the second and third toes and also it has a highly developed brain. It feeds on leaves, fruits, birds, eggs, insects, and other small animals.
Image Source: Wikimedia
9. Southern Flying Lizard
Southern Flying Lizard can grow 7 to 8 inches long and weighs around 20 grams. It is found in forests, jungles, areca gardens, and teak plantations of Southern India and South East Asia. It has a life expectancy of around 8 years and is grey, brown, black, and tan helping it to camouflage. It is one of the animals with a gular pouch in the world.
It is known for its wings present at the side of its body for flight. It has a depressed and elongated body with brown rectangular rows of spots on its wings. it has a loose flap of skin called a gular flap hanging down its neck which is generally yellow in males and blue-grey in females. It is an insectivorous animal and feeds on ants and termites.
Image Source: Wikimedia
10. Howler Monkey
Howler monkey can grow 22 to 36 inches tall and weighs 6 to 10 kg. It is found in deciduous forests of Central and South America with a life expectancy of 15-20 years. It has a tail as long as its entire body and helps in maintaining balance and eating food. It has large rounded nostrils with a short snout, a face, and a body covered with fur and hair. It is considered as loudest land animal as its voice can be heard up to 4.8 kilometers. It feeds on leaves, fruits, flowers, buds, nuts, and berries.
Also Read: 10 Most Famous And Cutest Cartoon Animals
Image Source: Wikimedia
11. Greater sage-grouse
The greater sage-grouse also known as sagehen is the largest grouse bird in North America. The range of bird species ranges between sagebrush country in the western United States and southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. The population of the bird species is declining because of habitat loss and has been recognized as threatened or near threatened by several organizations. The avarage lifespan of Greater sage-grouse is between 1 to 1.5 years in the wild, however, some can live upto 10 years.
12. Little pied cormorant
The little pied cormorant is one of the animals with a gular pouch and is seen across Australia in both salt and fresh waterways. They are carnivorous hunters and can dive into the water to prey on fish. They are also seen feeding on Crustaceans, insects, and frogs. The body size is between 55 to 65 cm in length and the average weight is between 413 to 877 grams. The avarage lifespan of the Little Pied cormorant is not known in that world, however, it belongs to the family of cormorants and has an avarage lifespan of 25 years. It is also listed as one of the black birds with white strips on thier wings.
13. Great cormorant
The great cormorant scientific name is Phalacrocorax carbo and belongs to the family Phalacrocoracidae. The bird species is seen across the Indian Subcontinent, Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and Australia. The body length is between 80 to 100 cm in length and the average weight is between 1,800 to 2,800 grams. The total wingspan is between 130 to 160 cm. They used to prefer habitat in regions equipped with inland and coastal water bodies and therefore stay near estuaries, lagoons, creeks, tidal flats, marshes, swamps, fish ponds, lakes, and streams. The average lifespan of a great cormorant is upto 10 years.
14. Ascension Frigatebird
The Ascension frigatebird is a seabird of the family Fregatidae and mostly breeds on Boatswain Bird Island and Ascension Island. The body length is between 89 to 96 cm and the average weight is upto 1,250 grams. The bird species was described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark in the year 1758. The primary diet includes flying fish, often associating with schools of hunting tuna or dolphins which drive prey to the surface. The avarage lifespan of the Ascension frigatebird is between 25 to 34 years.
15. Christmas Frigatebird
The Christmas frigatebird also known as Christmas Island frigatebird, is a seabird that belongs to the frigatebird family Fregatidae. The bird species is an endemic breeder to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean. The body length is between 89 to 100 cm and the average weight is upto 1,550 grams. The primary diet consists of flying fish, squid, and other marine animals such as seabird eggs and chicks. The Christmas frigatebird has an average lifespan of as long as 50 years.
16. Lesser frigatebird
The lesser frigatebird is one of the animals with gular much that belongs to the frigatebird family Fregatidae. It is the smallest frigatebird species that can grow upto 75 cm in length. The bird species can be seen over tropical and subtropical waters across the Indian and Pacific Oceans as well as off the Atlantic coast of Brazil. The body length is between 66 to 81 cm and the wingspan is between 155 to 193 cm along with long forked tails. The avarage lifespan of the Lesser frigatebird is between 17 to 23 years in the wild.
These are the 10 animals with gular pouches. Kindly share and post your comments.