Northern Gannet

Morus bassanus · Bird

Gannets breed in packed colonies on sea stacks, cliffs and empty islands on both sides of the North Atlantic, and fish in flocks of a thousand or more, plunging from high up at over a hundred kilometres an hour. In winter they scatter south as far as the Caribbean and West Africa. Scottish islanders harvested the fat chicks, the guga, and used the feathers, oil and even the breastbones.

Danger

Harmless

How it is met

In colonies, by day

Size

Tiny

In winter

Leaves for winter

Where it lives

Rocky Shore, Coastal Shelf, Open Ocean

Gives

Northern Gannet Chick, Northern Gannet Feathers, Northern Gannet Oil

Sources

• Tanya Dewey, Morus bassanus (northern gannet). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, 2009.
• Wikipedia contributors, Northern gannet. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2026.

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