Ibn Battuta

Exploring Albatross Movements - 2008

A project of Albatross Conservation Collaborative.

click map for full-size version Movements of a Black-footed Albatross equipped with a satellite-linked transmitter programmed to operate on a 60-second repetition rate for 6 hours (noon - 6 pm, California time) every day. Only good quality locations (classes 1, 2, 3, 0) are shown as connected filled circles, with the color indicating the timing of the location. Poor quality locations (classes A, B) are shown as black dots.

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Species: Black-footed Albatross
Life Stage: Sub-Adult (Plumage 2)
Gender: Unknown
Release Date: 2008-08-05 19:27:00
Release Location: Cordell Bank
Last Location: 2008-10-18 22:14:51

Background

This bird is named after Ibn Battuta (Prounounced IB-uhn ba-TOO-tuh ..)

Like the albatross, Ibn Battuta was a long distance traveler, making unbelievably long journeys, covering great expanses on his journeys. This Ibn Battuta medieval geographer was born in Tangier, Morocco in 703, and began his travels with a hajji to Mecca when he was 20. Over the next 30 years he traveled roughly 75,000 miles, a figure not likely to have been surpassed before the age of steam, visiting around 44 modern countries.

He is the only known medieval traveler to have visited the lands of every Muslim ruler of his time. He also traveled to North Africa, West Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe in the West, to the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China in the East. He died at Fez in 1369.

Submitted by Colette Armao: Beach Watch Volunteer

Following the example of its name-sake, Ibn Battuta proved a tireless traveler and now holds the record for the longest deployment: 74 days. This is well beyond the expected 55-day life-span of the single AA battery. The transmitter sensor data indicated that the voltage dropped before transmissions ceased, suggesting that the battery had been exhausted.