Largest pelican

The world's largest species of pelican is the Dalmatian pelican Pelecanus crispus. It measures 1.6–1.8 m long, has a wingspan of 2.7–3.2 m, and weighs 10–12 kg. It exhibits an extremely wide range of distribution, spanning southern Europe and Turkey across the upper extent of the Middle East into Pakistan, India, Russia and most of the former southern USSR states, as well as China.

The Dalmatian pelican is so-named not because it has spotted plumage but because its distribution range originally included Dalmatia in Croatia. Sadly, however, it has been extinct there since the 1950s. Indeed, once an extremely common bird, its numbers fell dramatically throughout its wide distribution range during the 20th century, and for reasons that are still not readily understood.

Nowadays, the country with the most breeding pairs is Russia, home to possibly over 3,000 such pairs, but the largest single colony, containing around 1,400 pairs, exists on Small Prespa Lake, straddling the border between Albania and Greece.