pelican

The name comes from the Ancient Greek word pelekan (πελεκάν),{{cite book| last = Jobling| first = James A.| title = The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names| url = https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling| year = 2010| publisher = Christopher Helm| location = London, United Kingdom| isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4| page = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n296 296] }} which is itself derived from the word pelekys (πέλεκυς) meaning "axe".{{cite book| last = Partridge| first = Eric| author-link = Eric Partridge| title = Origins: a Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English| year = 1983| publisher = Greenwich House| location = New York, New York| isbn = 0-517-414252| page = [https://archive.org/details/originsshortetym0000part/page/479 479]| url = https://archive.org/details/originsshortetym0000part/page/479}} In classical times, the word was applied to both the pelican and the woodpecker.{{Cite encyclopedia| title=Pelican|page=1299 |encyclopedia=Oxford English Dictionary|editor1=Simpson, J. |editor2=Weiner, E. | year=1989 |edition= 2nd| location=Oxford, United Kingdom |publisher=Clarendon Press|isbn= 0-19-861186-2}}

{{Main|Pelecaniformes#Systematics and evolution}}

The genus Pelecanus was first formally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. He described the distinguishing characteristics as a straight bill hooked at the tip, linear nostrils, a bare face, and fully webbed feet. This early definition included frigatebirds, cormorants, and sulids, as well as pelicans.{{cite book |last=Linnaeus |first=C. |author-link=Carl Linnaeus |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727037 |title=Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae Editio Decima |publisher=Lars Salvius |year=1758 |volume=1 |location=Stockholm |pages=132–34 |language=la |quote=Rostrum edentulum, rectum: apice adunco, unguiculato. Nares lineares. Facies nuda. Pedes digitís omnibus palmatis.}} The family Pelecanidae was later introduced (as Pelicanea) by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815.{{cite book | last=Rafinesque | first=Constantine Samuel | author-link=Constantine Samuel Rafinesque | year=1815 | title=Analyse de la nature ou, Tableau de l'univers et des corps organisés | volume=1815 | publisher=Self-published | place=Palermo | language=fr | page=72 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48310150 }}{{cite book | last=Bock | first=Walter J. | year=1994 | title=History and Nomenclature of Avian Family-Group Names | series=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History | volume= 222 | publisher=American Museum of Natural History | place=New York | pages=131, 252 | hdl=2246/830 }}

Pelicans give their name to the Pelecaniformes, an order which has undergone significant revision. Tropicbirds (now Phaethontiformes), darters, cormorants, gannets, boobies, and frigatebirds (now Suliformes), all traditional members of the order, have since been removed from Pelecaniformes. In their place, herons, ibises, spoonbills, the hamerkop, and the shoebill have now been added into the Pelecaniformes.

Molecular data support a close relationship between pelicans, shoebills (Balaeniceps rex), and hamerkops (Scopus umbretta).{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=N.D. |year=2010 |editor1-last=Desalle |editor1-first=Robert |title=Phylogenetic Analysis of Pelecaniformes (Aves) Based on Osteological Data: Implications for Waterbird Phylogeny and Fossil Calibration Studies |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=5 |issue=10 |page=e13354 |bibcode=2010PLoSO...513354S |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0013354 |pmc=2954798 |pmid=20976229 |doi-access=free}} Together, they form a distinct clade within Pelecaniformes, although their precise evolutionary relationships remain under study.{{Cite journal |last1=Mayr |first1=G. |year=2007 |title=Avian higher-level phylogeny: Well-supported clades and what we can learn from a phylogenetic analysis of 2954 morphological characters |journal=Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research |volume=46 |pages=63–72 |doi=10.1111/j.1439-0469.2007.00433.x |doi-access=free}}

The oldest known pelican fossil is Eopelecanus aegyptiacus, a tibiotarsus from the late Eocene (Priabonian) the Birket Qarun Formation in the Wadi El Hitan in Egypt (~36 million years ago). It shows striking similarities with modern species.

Later fossils from the Early Miocene found at Luberon, France, include Pelecanus sp. and Miopelecanus gracilis.{{cite journal |author1=Louchart, Antoine |author2=Tourment, Nicolas |author3=Carrier, Julie |year=2011 |title=The Earliest Known Pelican Reveals 30 Million Years of Evolutionary Stasis in Beak Morphology |journal=Journal of Ornithology |volume=150 |issue=1 |pages=15–20 |bibcode=2011JOrni.152...15L |doi=10.1007/s10336-010-0537-5 |s2cid=21016885}}{{efn|Once thought distinct but now considerted within Pelecanus variation.{{cite journal |author1=Louchart, Antoine |author2=Tourment, Nicolas |author3=Carrier, Julie |year=2011 |title=The Earliest Known Pelican Reveals 30 Million Years of Evolutionary Stasis in Beak Morphology |journal=Journal of Ornithology |volume=150 |issue=1 |pages=15–20 |bibcode=2011JOrni.152...15L |doi=10.1007/s10336-010-0537-5 |s2cid=21016885}}}} Both fossils show a beak nearly morphologically identical to that of present-day pelicans. This remarkable stasis in pelican beak morphology may reflect strong functional constraints. Their specialized fish-eating beak has likely remained optimal over millions of years, with changes potentially reducing feeding efficiency. Some have also suggested that constraints imposed by flight may have limited the skeletal evolutionof pelicans.

Notable fossil species (sorted by region and age) include:

• Europe: P. fraasi, Lydekker, 1891; P. intermedius{{efn|Pelecanus intermedius was transferred to Miopelecanus by Cheneval in 1984{{cite book |author=Lydekker, Richard |url=https://archive.org/stream/catalogueoffossi00foss#page/36/mode/1up |title=Catalogue of the Fossil Birds in the British Museum (Natural History) |publisher=British Museum |year=1891 |place=London, United Kingdom |pages=37–45 |access-date=29 June 2012}}}}, Frass,1870; P. gracilis, Milne-Edwards, 1863;{{cite book |author=Lydekker, Richard |url=https://archive.org/stream/catalogueoffossi00foss#page/36/mode/1up |title=Catalogue of the Fossil Birds in the British Museum (Natural History) |publisher=British Museum |year=1891 |place=London, United Kingdom |pages=37–45 |access-date=29 June 2012}} P. odessanus, Widhalm, 1886{{cite journal |author=Widhalm, J. |year=1886 |title=Die Fossilen Vogel-Knochen der Odessaer-Steppen-Kalk-Steinbrüche an der Neuen Slobodka bei Odessa |journal=Schriften der Neurussische Gesellschaft der Naturforscher zu Odessa |language=de |volume=10 |pages=3–9}}
• North America: P. halieus, Wetmore, 1933;{{cite journal |author=Wetmore, A. |year=1933 |title=Pliocene Bird Remains from Idaho |url=https://archive.org/details/cbarchive_36794_pliocenebirdremainsfromidaho1862 |journal=Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections |volume=87 |issue=20 |pages=1–12}} P. schreiberi, Olson, 1999{{cite journal |author=Olson, Storrs L. |year=1999 |title=A New Species of Pelican (Aves: Pelecanidae) from the Lower Pliocene of North Carolina and Florida |url=http://si-pddr.si.edu/jspui/bitstream/10088/6492/1/VZ_293_Pelecanus_schreiberi.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington |volume=112 |issue=3 |pages=503–09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120719074440/http://si-pddr.si.edu/jspui/bitstream/10088/6492/1/VZ_293_Pelecanus_schreiberi.pdf |archive-date=19 July 2012 |access-date=27 April 2012}}
• Asia: P. cautleyi, Davies, 1880; P. sivalensis, Davies, 1880
• South America: P. paranensis, Noriega et al., 2023{{Cite journal |last1=Noriega |first1=Jorge I. |last2=Cenizo |first2=Marcos |last3=Brandoni |first3=Diego |last4=Pérez |first4=Leandro M. |last5=Tineo |first5=David E. |last6=Diederle |first6=Juan M. |last7=Bona |first7=Paula |date=2023-05-09 |title=A new pelican (Aves: Pelecanidae) from the Upper Miocene of Argentina: new clues about the origin of the New World lineages |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2023.2202702 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=42 |issue=5 |pages=e2202702 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2023.2202702 |issn=0272-4634 |s2cid=258605013|url-access=subscription }}
• Australia: P. cadimurka, Rich & van Tets, 1981;{{cite journal |author1=Rich, P.V. |author2=van Tets, J. |year=1981 |title=The Fossil Pelicans of Australia |journal=Records of the South Australian Museum (Adelaide) |volume=18 |issue=12 |pages=235–64}} P. tirarensis, Miller, 1966{{cite journal |author=Miller, A.H. |year=1966 |title=The Fossil Pelicans of Australia |journal=Memoirs of the Queensland Museum |volume=14 |pages=181–90}}

• Protopelicanus (Late Eocene) – Once considered a possible early pelecaniform, this bird might instead belong to the Pelagornithidae (pseudotooth birds) or another unrelated aquatic lineage. It is not generally accepted as a member of Pelecanidae.{{cite journal |author=Mlikovsky, Jiri |year=1995 |title=Nomenclatural and Taxonomic Status of Fossil Birds Described by H. G. L. Reichenbach in 1852 |url=http://www.nm.cz/download/pm/zoo/mlikovsky_lit/087-1995-Reichenbach1852.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg |volume=181 |pages=311–16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006183208/http://www.nm.cz/download/pm/zoo/mlikovsky_lit/087-1995-Reichenbach1852.pdf |archive-date=6 October 2013 |access-date=29 April 2012}}

• Liptornis (Miocene) – Originally described as a pelican, this genus is now considered a nomen dubium, based on fragmentary material that lacks sufficient diagnostic features.{{cite journal |author=Olson, Storrs L. |year=1985 |title=Faunal Turnover in South American Fossil Avifaunas: the Insufficiencies of the Fossil Record |journal=Evolution |volume=39 |issue=5 |pages=1174–77 |doi=10.2307/2408747 |jstor=2408747 |pmid=28561505}}

{{cladogram|caption=Evolutionary relationships among the extant species based on Kennedy et al. (2013).|

cladogram={{clade|style=line-height:75%

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|1={{clade

|1= P. rufescens

|2=P. philippensis

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|2=P. crispus

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|2=P. conspicillatus

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|2=P. onocrotalus

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|1={{clade

|1=P. occidentalis

|2=P. thagus

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|2=P. erythrorhynchos

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}}There are eight extant species of pelicans, which were historically divided into two groups based on plumage colouration and nesting behavior. One group includes four ground-nesting species with predominantly white plumage—the Australian, Dalmatian, great white, and American white pelicans. The other group consists of four species with grey or brown plumage that nest either in trees or on coastal rocks—the pink-backed, spot-billed, brown, and Peruvian pelicans. The largely marine brown and Peruvian pelicans, once considered conspecific, are sometimes placed in the subgenus Leptopelecanus due to their darker colouration and coastal habits.{{cite book |title=Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 1, Ratites to Ducks |publisher=Oxford University Press |others=Marchant, S.; Higgins, P.J. (Coordinators). |year=1990 |isbn=0-19-553068-3 |location=Melbourne, Victoria |pages=737–38}} However, species with similar plumage and nesting behavior are found in both groups, indicating that these traits do not reflect deep evolutionary divisions.

Genetic analyses using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA have revealed a different picture of pelican relationships. These studies support the existence of two major clades: a New World clade, comprising the American white, brown, and Peruvian pelicans, and an Old World clade that includes the Dalmatian, pink-backed, spot-billed, Australian, and great white pelicans. This phylogeny suggests that pelicans evolved in the Old World and later colonized the Americas. Furthermore, it indicates that nesting behavior is more strongly influenced by body size than by genetic lineage.

File:Pelican-Gaping-Aruba.JPG

File:Pelecanus erythrorhynchos -Tulsa Zoo, Oklahoma, USA-8c.jpg with knob which develops on bill before the breeding season]]

File:Pelecanus occidentalis -Smith Island, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, USA -nest-8cr.jpg with a chick in a nest in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, US: This species will nest on the ground when no suitable trees are available.{{cite web |url=http://www.floridawildlifeviewing.com/florida_animals_wildlife/PelicanNesting.htm |title=Brown Pelican breeding and nesting habits |access-date=5 August 2012 |work=Florida Wildlife Viewing|publisher=M. Timothy O'Keefe}}]]

File:Australian Pelican showing large pouch.jpg displaying the extent of its throat pouch (Lakes Entrance, Victoria)]]

Pelicans are very large birds with very long bills characterised by a downcurved hook at the end of the upper mandible, and the attachment of a huge gular pouch to the lower. The slender rami of the lower bill and the flexible tongue muscles form the pouch into a basket for catching fish, and sometimes rainwater, though to not hinder the swallowing of large fish, the tongue itself is tiny.{{cite book |title=The Bird, its Form and Function |author=Beebe, C. William |year=1965|publisher=Dover Publications |location=New York, New York}} They have a long neck and short stout legs with large, fully webbed feet. Although they are among the heaviest of flying birds,Elliott (1992), p. 290. they are relatively light for their apparent bulk because of air pockets in the skeleton and beneath the skin, enabling them to float high in the water. The tail is short and square. The wings are long and broad, suitably shaped for soaring and gliding flight, and have the unusually large number of 30 to 35 secondary flight feathers.{{cite book| last = Perrins| first = Christopher M.| title = The Princeton Encyclopedia of Birds| year = 2009| publisher = Princeton University| isbn = 978-0691140704| page = 78 }}

Males are generally larger than females and have longer bills. The smallest species is the brown pelican, small individuals of which can be no more than {{convert|2.75|kg|lb|abbr=on}} and {{convert|1.06|m|ft|abbr=on}} long, with a wingspan of as little as {{convert|1.83|m|ft|abbr=on}}. The largest is believed to be the Dalmatian, at up to {{convert|15|kg|lb|abbr=on}} and {{convert|1.83|m|ft|abbr=on}} in length, with a maximum wingspan of {{convert|3|m|ft|abbr=on}}. The Australian pelican's bill may grow up to {{convert|0.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} long in large males,{{cite book| others = Marchant, S.; Higgins, P.J. (Coordinators).| title = Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 1, Ratites to Ducks| year = 1990| publisher = Oxford University Press| location = Melbourne, Victoria| isbn = 0-19-553068-3| page = 746 }} the longest of any bird.

Pelicans have mainly light-coloured plumage, the exceptions being the brown and Peruvian pelicans. The bills, pouches, and bare facial skin of all species become brighter before breeding season commences. The throat pouch of the Californian subspecies of the brown pelican turns bright red, and fades to yellow after the eggs are laid, while the throat pouch of the Peruvian pelican turns blue. The American white pelican grows a prominent knob on its bill that is shed once females have laid eggs.{{cite journal|title=An Overview of the American White Pelican |author=Keith, James O. |journal= Waterbirds|volume= 28|issue= Special Publication 1: The Biology and Conservation of the American White Pelican |year=2005|pages=9–17|jstor=4132643 | doi = 10.1675/1524-4695(2005)28[9:aootaw]2.0.co;2|s2cid=85813418 }} The plumage of immature pelicans is darker than that of adults.{{cite book|author1=Steele, John H. |author2=Thorpe, Steve A. |author3=Turekian, Karl K. | title = Marine Biology: A Derivative of the Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kkRKJCofvXMC| year = 2010| publisher = Academic Press| location = London, United Kingdom| isbn = 978-0-08-096480-5| pages = 524–30 }} Newly hatched chicks are naked and pink, darkening to grey or black after four to 14 days, then developing a covering of white or grey down.

Anatomical dissections of two brown pelicans in 1939 showed that pelicans have a network of air sacs under their skin situated across the ventral surface including the throat, breast, and undersides of the wings, as well as having air sacs in their bones. The air sacs are connected to the airways of the respiratory system, and the pelican can keep its air sacs inflated by closing its glottis, but how air sacs are inflated is not clear.{{cite journal|last=Richardson|first=Frank|year=1939|title=Functional Aspects of the Pneumatic System of the California Brown Pelican|journal=The Condor|volume=41|issue=1|pages=13–17|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v041n01/p0013-p0017.pdf|doi=10.2307/1364267|jstor=1364267|access-date=22 February 2013|archive-date=20 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120044433/https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v041n01/p0013-p0017.pdf|url-status=dead}} The air sacs serve to keep the pelican remarkably buoyant in the water{{cite book| last = Bumstead| first = Pat| title = Canadian Feathers : a Loon-atics Guide to Anting, Mimicry and Dump-nesting| url = https://archive.org/details/canadianfeathers0000bums| url-access = registration| year = 2001| publisher = Simply Wild Publications| location = Calgary, Alberta| isbn = 0968927807| page = [https://archive.org/details/canadianfeathers0000bums/page/129 129] }} and may also cushion the impact of the pelican's body on the water surface when they dive from flight into water to catch fish. Superficial air sacs may also help to round body contours (especially over the abdomen, where surface protuberances may be caused by viscera changing size and position) to enable the overlying feathers to form more effective heat insulation and also to enable feathers to be held in position for good aerodynamics.

Modern pelicans are found on all continents except Antarctica. They primarily inhabit warm regions, although breeding ranges extend to latitudes of 45° South (Australian pelicans in Tasmania) and 60° North (American white pelicans in western Canada).{{cite book| last = Nelson| first = J. Bryan| author2 = Schreiber, Elizabeth Anne| author3 = Schreiber, Ralph W.| editor = Perrins, Christopher| title = Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds| year = 2003| publisher = Firefly Books| location = Richmond Hill, Ontario| isbn = 1-55297-777-3| pages = [https://archive.org/details/fireflyencyclope0000unse/page/78 78–81]| chapter = Pelicans| chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/fireflyencyclope0000unse/page/78}} Birds of inland and coastal waters, they are absent from polar regions, the deep ocean, oceanic islands (except the Galapagos), and inland South America, as well as from the eastern coast of South America from the mouth of the Amazon River southwards. Subfossil bones have been recovered from as far south as New Zealand's South Island,{{cite book| last = Gill| first = Brian James| title = New Zealand's Extinct Birds| year = 1991| publisher = Random Century| location = London, United Kingdom| isbn = 1869411250| page = 46 }} although their scarcity and isolated occurrence suggests that these remains may have merely been vagrants from Australia (much as is the case today).{{cite journal|author1=Gill, B.J. |author2=Tennyson, A.J.D. |year=2002|title=New fossil records of pelicans (Aves: Pelecanidae) from New Zealand|journal=Tuhinga: Records of the Museum of New Zealand te PapaTongarewa|volume=13|pages=39–44|url=http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/publication/download/316272/MA_DOC001098.pdf}}

File:Australian pelican in flight.jpg

Pelicans swim well with their strong legs and their webbed feet. They rub the backs of their heads on their preen glands to pick up an oily secretion, which they transfer to their plumage to waterproof it. Holding their wings only loosely against their bodies, pelicans float with relatively little of their bodies below the water surface. They dissipate excess heat by gular flutter – rippling the skin of the throat and pouch with the bill open to promote evaporative cooling. They roost and loaf communally on beaches, sandbanks, and in shallow water.

A fibrous layer deep in the breast muscles can hold the wings rigidly horizontal for gliding and soaring. Thus, they use thermals for soaring to heights of 3,000 m (10,000 ft) or more, combined both with gliding and with flapping flight in V formation, to commute distances up to {{convert|150|km|mi|abbr=on}} to feeding areas. Pelicans also fly low (or "skim") over stretches of water, using a phenomenon known as ground effect to reduce drag and increase lift. As the air flows between the wings and the water surface, it is compressed to a higher density and exerts a stronger upward force against the bird above.{{cite web|url=http://www.loyno.edu/lucec/natural-history-writings/bird-flight-over-water|title=Bird Flight Over Water|last=Thomas|first=Bob|date=2 June 2011|work=College of Social Sciences Intranet|publisher=Center for Environmental Communication, Loyola University|access-date=1 August 2012|location=New Orleans, Louisiana|archive-date=12 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412100607/http://www.loyno.edu/lucec/natural-history-writings/bird-flight-over-water|url-status=dead}} Hence, substantial energy is saved while flying.{{cite journal|last=Hainsworth|first=F. Reed|year=1988|title=Induced Drag Savings From Ground Effect and Formation Flight in Brown Pelicans|url=http://jeb.biologists.org/content/135/1/431|journal=Journal of Experimental Biology|volume=135|issue=1 |pages=431–44|doi=10.1242/jeb.135.1.431|doi-access=free|bibcode=1988JExpB.135..431H }}

Adult pelicans rely on visual displays and behaviour to communicate,{{cite book| last = Khanna| first = D.R.| title = Biology of Birds| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fDblIChi7KwC| access-date = 29 June 2012| year = 2005| publisher = Discovery Publishing House| location = New Delhi, India| isbn = 817141933X| pages = 315–16 }} particularly using their wings and bills. Agonistic behaviour consists of thrusting and snapping at opponents with their bills, or lifting and waving their wings in a threatening manner.{{cite book| last = Terrill| first = Ceiridwen| title = Unnatural Landscapes: Tracking Invasive Species| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-xYRcQjMppwC| year = 2007| publisher = University of Arizona Press| location = Tucson, Arizona| isbn = 978-0816525232| page = 36 }} Adult pelicans grunt when at the colony, but are generally silent elsewhere or outside breeding season.{{cite book| last = Dunne| first = Pete| title = Pete Dunne's Essential Field Guide Companion| url = https://archive.org/details/petedunnesessent00dunn| url-access = registration| year = 2006| publisher = Houghton Mifflin Harcourt| location = New York, New York| isbn = 0-618-23648-1| pages = [https://archive.org/details/petedunnesessent00dunn/page/118 118]–19 }}{{cite book| last = Davidson| first = Ian|author2=Sinclair, Ian| title = Southern African Birds: A Photographic Guide| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_6X10o1QrR4C| edition = 2nd| year = 2006| publisher = Struik| location = Cape Town, South Africa| isbn = 1770072446| pages = 22 }}{{Cite journal | last1 = Vestjens | first1 = W. J. M. | doi = 10.1071/WR9770037 | title = Breeding Behaviour and Ecology of the Australian Pelican, Pelecanus Conspicillatus, in New South Wales | journal = Wildlife Research | volume = 4 | pages = 37–58 | year = 1977 | issue = 1 | bibcode = 1977WildR...4...37V }} Conversely, colonies are noisy, as chicks vocalise extensively.

{{multiple image

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| image1 = Spot-billed Pelican (Pelecanus philippensis) at nest with chicks in Uppalpadu W IMG 2663.jpg

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| caption1 = A spot-billed pelican nesting colony at Uppalapadu, India: This species builds nests in trees.

| image2 = Spot-billed Pelican (Pelecanus philippensis) feeding a juvenile in Garapadu, AP W IMG 5362.jpg

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| caption2 = A spot-billed pelican feeding a juvenile in a nest in a tree at Garapadu, India

| image3 = Pelecanus conspicillatus -Brisbane Water, Broken Bay, New South Wales, Australia -colony-8.jpg

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| caption3 = A nesting colony of Australian pelicans on the coast of New South Wales, Australia.

| image4 = Pelikane vor Dauphin Island (USA).jpg

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| caption4 = Pelicans at Dauphin Island, Alabama, United States

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Pelicans are gregarious and nest colonially. Pairs are monogamous for a single season, but the pair bond extends only to the nesting area; mates are independent away from the nest. The ground-nesting (white) species have a complex communal courtship involving a group of males chasing a single female in the air, on land, or in the water while pointing, gaping, and thrusting their bills at each other. They can finish the process in a day. The tree-nesting species have a simpler process in which perched males advertise for females. The location of the breeding colony is constrained by the availability of an ample supply of fish to eat, although pelicans can use thermals to soar and commute for hundreds of kilometres daily to fetch food.

The Australian pelican has two reproductive strategies depending on the local degree of environmental predictability. Colonies of tens or hundreds, rarely thousands, of birds breed regularly on small coastal and subcoastal islands where food is seasonally or permanently available. In arid inland Australia, especially in the endorheic Lake Eyre basin, pelicans breed opportunistically in very large numbers of up to 50,000 pairs, when irregular major floods, which may be many years apart, fill ephemeral salt lakes and provide large amounts of food for several months before drying out again.{{cite web |url=http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/pelicans-in-australia.htm |title=Mysteries of the Australian pelican |access-date=18 June 2012 |first=Julian |last=Reid |publisher=Australian Geographic |date=28 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614181957/http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/pelicans-in-australia.htm |archive-date=14 June 2012 |url-status=dead}}

In all species, copulation takes place at the nest site; it begins shortly after pairing and continues for three to ten days before egg-laying. The male brings the nesting material, in ground-nesting species (which may not build a nest) sometimes in the pouch, and in tree-nesting species crosswise in the bill. The female then heaps the material up to form a simple structure.

The eggs are oval, white, and coarsely textured. All species normally lay at least two eggs; the usual clutch size is one to three, rarely up to six. Both sexes incubate with the eggs on top of or below the feet; they may display when changing shifts. Incubation takes 30–36 days; hatching success for undisturbed pairs can be as high as 95%, but because of sibling competition or siblicide, in the wild, usually all but one nestling dies within the first few weeks (later in the pink-backed and spot-billed species). Both parents feed their young. Small chicks are fed by regurgitation; after about a week, they are able to put their heads into their parents' pouches and feed themselves.{{cite book| editor = Campbell, Bruce| editor2 = Lack, Elizabeth| title = A Dictionary of Birds| year = 1985| publisher = Poyser| location = Calton, United Kingdom| isbn = 0-85661-039-9| page = 443 }} Sometimes before, but especially after being fed the pelican chick may seem to "throw a tantrum" by loudly vocalizing and dragging itself around in a circle by one wing and leg, striking its head on the ground or anything nearby and the tantrums sometimes end in what looks like a seizure that results in the chick falling briefly unconscious; the reason is not clearly known, but a common belief is that it is to draw attention to itself and away from any siblings who are waiting to be fed.

Parents of ground-nesting species sometimes drag older young around roughly by the head before feeding them. From about 25 days old, the young of these species gather in "pods" or "crèches" of up to 100 birds in which parents recognise and feed only their own offspring. By six to eight weeks, they wander around, occasionally swimming, and may practise communal feeding. Young of all species fledge ten to 12 weeks after hatching. They may remain with their parents afterwards, but are now seldom or never fed. They are mature at three or four years old. Overall breeding success is highly variable. Pelicans live for 15 to 25 years in the wild, although one reached an age of 54 years in captivity.

The diet of pelicans usually consists of fish,{{cite book| editor1 = Perrins, Christopher M.| editor2 = Middleton, Alex L.A| title = Encyclopedia of Birds| orig-year = 1985| year = 1998| publisher = Facts on File| location = New York, New York| isbn = 0-8160-1150-8| pages = [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofbi00perr/page/53 53–54]| url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofbi00perr/page/53}} but occasionally amphibians, turtles, crustaceans, insects, birds, and mammals are also eaten.{{cite news|title = Pelican Swallows Pigeon in Park|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6083468.stm|work = BBC News|date = 25 October 2006|access-date =25 October 2006}}{{cite news|title = Pelican's Pigeon Meal not so Rare|url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6098678.stm|work = BBC News|author=Clarke, James |date = 30 October 2006|access-date =5 July 2007}}Elliott (1992), p. 295-298, 309–311 The size of the preferred prey fish varies depending on pelican species and location. For example, in Africa, the pink-backed pelican generally takes fish ranging in size from fry up to {{convert|400|g|lb|abbr=on|1}} and the great white pelican prefers somewhat larger fish, up to {{convert|600|g|lb|abbr=on|1}}, but in Europe, the latter species has been recorded taking fish up to {{convert|1850|g|lb|abbr=on|1}}. In deep water, white pelicans often fish alone. Nearer the shore, several encircle schools of small fish or form a line to drive them into the shallows, beating their wings on the water surface and then scooping up the prey.{{cite web |url=http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/pelican/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100124052443/http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/pelican/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 January 2010 |title=Pelican Pelecanus|work=Factsheet |date=11 November 2010|publisher=National Geographic |access-date=28 April 2012}} Although all pelican species may feed in groups or alone, the Dalmatian, pink-backed, and spot-billed pelicans are the only ones to prefer solitary feeding. When fishing in groups, all pelican species have been known to work together to catch their prey, and Dalmatian pelicans may even cooperate with great cormorants.

File:Pelecanus occidentalis -Jamaica -fishing-8.ogvs diving into the sea to catch fish in Jamaica]]

Large fish are caught with the bill-tip, then tossed up in the air to be caught and slid into the gullet head-first. A gull will sometimes stand on the pelican's head, peck it to distraction, and grab a fish from the open bill.{{cite web |url=http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/zoology/birds/pelican-bill-vs-belly2.htm |title=Does a Pelican's Bill Hold More Than its Belly Can? |author=Freeman, Shanna|publisher=HowStuffWorks, Inc.|date=24 November 2008 }} Pelicans in their turn sometimes snatch prey from other waterbirds.

The brown pelican usually plunge-dives head-first for its prey, from a height as great as {{convert|10-20|m|ft|abbr=on}}, especially for anchovies and menhaden. The only other pelican to feed using a similar technique is the Peruvian pelican, but its dives are typically from a lower height than the brown pelican.{{cite journal| author=Jaramillo, A. |year=2009 |title=Humboldt Current seabirding in Chile | journal=Neotropical Birding | volume=4 | pages=27–39}} The Australian and American white pelicans may feed by low plunge-dives landing feet-first and then scooping up the prey with the beak, but they—as well as the remaining pelican species—primarily feed while swimming on the water. Aquatic prey is most commonly taken at or near the water surface. Although principally a fish eater, the Australian pelican is also an eclectic and opportunistic scavenger and carnivore that forages in landfill sites, as well as taking carrion{{cite book| others = Marchant, S.; Higgins, P.J. (Coordinators).| title = Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 1, Ratites to Ducks| year = 1990| publisher = Oxford University Press| location = Melbourne, Victoria| isbn = 0-19-553068-3| page = 742 }} and "anything from insects and small crustaceans to ducks and small dogs". Food is not stored in a pelican's throat pouch, contrary to popular folklore.

Pelicans may also eat birds. In southern Africa, eggs and chicks of the Cape cormorant are an important food source for great white pelicans. Several other bird species have been recorded in the diet of this pelican in South Africa, including Cape gannet chicks on Malgas Island{{Cite news|author=Walker, Matt |title=Pelicans Filmed Gobbling Gannets|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8343000/8343195.stm|date=5 November 2009|access-date=5 November 2009|publisher=BBC}} as well as crowned cormorants, kelp gulls, greater crested terns, and African penguins on Dassen Island and elsewhere.{{cite journal |author1=Mwema, Martin M. |author2=de Ponte Machado, Marta |author3=Ryan, Peter G. |year=2010 |title=Breeding Seabirds at Dassen Island, South Africa: Chances of Surviving Great White Pelican Predation |journal=Endangered Species Research |volume=9 |pages=125–31 |doi=10.3354/esr00243 |url=https://www.int-res.com/articles/esr2009/9/n009p125.pdf |doi-access=free }} The Australian pelican, which is particularly willing to take a wide range of prey items, has been recorded feeding on young Australian white ibis, and young and adult grey teals and silver gulls.{{cite journal|author1=Smith, A.C.M. |author2=U. Munro |year=2008 |title=Cannibalism in the Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) and Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca) | journal=Waterbirds: The International Journal of Waterbird Biology | volume=31 | issue=4 | pages=632–635}} Brown pelicans have been reported preying on young common murres in California and the eggs and nestlings of cattle egrets and nestling great egrets in Baja California, Mexico.{{cite journal | last = Mora | first = Miguel A. | year = 1989 | title = Predation by a Brown Pelican at a Mixed Species Heronry | journal = Condor | volume = 91 | issue = 3 | pages = 742–43 | url = http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v091n03/p0742-p0743.pdf | doi = 10.2307/1368134 | jstor = 1368134 }} Peruvian pelicans in Chile have been recorded feeding on nestlings of imperial shags, juvenile Peruvian diving petrels, and grey gulls.{{cite journal|author1=Cursach, J.A. |author2=J.R. Rau |author3=J. Vilugrón |year=2016 |title=Presence of the Peruvian Pelican Pelicanus thagus in seabird colonies of Chilean Patagonia | journal=Marine Ornithology | volume=44 | pages=27–30}}{{cite journal|author1=Daigre, M. |author2=P. Arce |author3=A. Simeone |year=2012 |title=Fledgling Peruvian Pelicans (Pelecanus thagus) attack and consume younger unrelated conspecifics | journal=Wilson Journal of Ornithology | volume=124 |issue=3 | pages=603–607 | doi=10.1676/12-011.1|s2cid=84928683 }} Cannibalism of chicks of their own species is known from the Australian, brown, and Peruvian pelicans. Non-native great white pelicans have been observed swallowing city pigeons in St. James's Park in London, England.

Globally, pelican populations are adversely affected by these main factors: declining supplies of fish through overfishing or water pollution, destruction of habitat, direct effects of human activity such as disturbance at nesting colonies, hunting and culling, entanglement in fishing lines and hooks, and the presence of pollutants such as DDT and endrin. Most species' populations are more or less stable, although three are classified by the IUCN as being at risk. All species breed readily in zoos, which is potentially useful for conservation management.{{Cite journal | last1 = Crivelli | first1= Alain J.| last2= Schreiber| first2= Ralph W.| doi = 10.1016/0006-3207(84)90063-6 | title = Status of the Pelecanidae | journal = Biological Conservation | volume = 30 | issue = 2 | pages = 147–56 | year = 1984| bibcode= 1984BCons..30..147C}}

File:(Pelecanus occidentalis) Tortuga Bay on the Island of Santa Cruz, Galápagos.JPG, Tortuga Bay, Island of Santa Cruz, Galápagos]]

The combined population of brown and Peruvian pelicans is estimated at 650,000 birds, with around 250,000 in the United States and Caribbean, and 400,000 in Peru.{{efn|The US government has not accepted the elevation of the two taxa into separate species.}} The National Audubon Society estimates the global population of the brown pelican at 300,000.{{cite web|url=http://birds.audubon.org/species-search/Brown%20Pelican |title=Brown Pelican |access-date=9 August 2012 |work=Species profile |publisher=National Audubon Society |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105203741/http://birds.audubon.org/species-search/Brown%20Pelican |archive-date=5 November 2013 }} Numbers of brown pelican plummeted in the 1950s and 1960s, largely as a consequence of environmental DDT pollution, and the species was listed as endangered in the US in 1970. With restrictions on DDT use in the US from 1972, its population has recovered, and it was delisted in 2009.{{cite journal|author=Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior|date=17 November 2009|title=Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Removal of the Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) From the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife|journal=Federal Register|volume=74|issue=220|pages=59444–72|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2009-11-17/pdf/E9-27402.pdf#page=1}}{{cite news| author = Cappiello, Dina| title= Brown pelicans off endangered species list| url= http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/12/BAP71AIOJD.DTL| newspaper= San Francisco Chronicle |date= 12 November 2009 | access-date=13 June 2012}}

The Peruvian pelican is listed as near threatened because, although the population is estimated by BirdLife International to exceed 500,000 mature individuals, and is possibly increasing, it has been much higher in the past. It declined dramatically during the 1998 El Niño event and could experience similar declines in the future. Conservation needs include regular monitoring throughout the range to determine population trends, particularly after El Niño years, restricting human access to important breeding colonies, and assessing interactions with fisheries.{{cite web |url=http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3816 |title=Peruvian Pelican |access-date=7 August 2012 |work=BirdLife species factsheet |publisher=BirdLife International}}

The spot-billed pelican has an estimated population between 13,000 and 18,000 and is considered to be near threatened in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Numbers declined substantially during the 20th century, one crucial factor being the eradication of the important Sittaung valley breeding colony in Burma through deforestation and the loss of feeding sites.{{cite web |url=http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3812 |title=Spot-billed Pelican |access-date=11 August 2012 |work=Species factsheet |publisher=BirdLife International}} The chief threats it faces are from habitat loss and human disturbance, but populations have mostly stabilised following increased protection in India and Cambodia.{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2017 |title=Pelecanus philippensis |volume=2017 |page=e.T22697604A117970266 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22697604A117970266.en |access-date=11 November 2021}}

The pink-backed pelican has a large population ranging over much of sub-Saharan Africa. In the absence of substantial threats or evidence of declines across its range, its conservation status is assessed as being of least concern. Regional threats include the drainage of wetlands and increasing disturbance in southern Africa. The species is susceptible to bioaccumulation of toxins and the destruction of nesting trees by logging.{{cite web |url=http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3810|title=Pink-backed Pelican |access-date=7 August 2012 |work=BirdLife species factsheet |publisher=BirdLife International}}

The American white pelican has increased in numbers, with its population estimated at over 157,000 birds in 2005, becoming more numerous east of the continental divide, while declining in the west.{{cite journal |last1=King |first1=D. Tommy |last2=Anderson |first2=Daniel W |title=Recent Population Status of the American White Pelican: A Continental Perspective |year=2005|journal= USDA National Wildlife Research Center – Staff Publications. |issue=Paper 40|pages=48–54 |url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/icwdm_usdanwrc/40}} However, whether its numbers have been affected by exposure to pesticides is unclear, as it has also lost habitat through wetland drainage and competition with recreational use of lakes and rivers.

File:Pelecanus onocrotalus -Kenya -several-8.jpgs loafing in Kenya]]

Great white pelicans range over a large area of Africa and southern Asia. The overall trend in numbers is uncertain, with a mix of regional populations that are increasing, declining, stable, or unknown, but no evidence has been found of rapid overall decline, and the status of the species is assessed as being of least concern. Threats include the drainage of wetlands, persecution and sport hunting, disturbance at the breeding colonies, and contamination by pesticides and heavy metals.{{cite web |url= http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3809|title=Great White Pelican |access-date=7 August 2012 |work=BirdLife species factsheet |publisher=BirdLife International}}

The Dalmatian pelican has a population estimated at between 10,000 and 20,000 following massive declines in the 19th and 20th centuries. The main ongoing threats include hunting, especially in eastern Asia, disturbance, coastal development, collision with overhead power lines, and the over-exploitation of fish stocks.{{cite web |url=http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3811 |title= Dalmatian Pelican |access-date=9 August 2012 |work=Species factsheet |publisher=BirdLife International}} It is listed as near threatened by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as the population trend is downwards, especially in Mongolia, where it is nearly extinct. However, several European colonies are increasing in size and the largest colony for the species, at the Small Prespa Lake in Greece, has reached about 1,400 breeding pairs following conservation measures.{{Cite iucn | author = BirdLife International | title = Pelecanus crispus | volume = 2017 | page = e.T22697599A119401118 | date = 2017 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T22697599A119401118.en }}

Widespread across Australia, the Australian pelican has a population generally estimated at between 300,000 and 500,000 individuals.{{cite book|author1=Robin, Libby |author2=Joseph, Leo |author3=Heinsohn, Robert | title = Boom & Bust: Bird Stories for a Dry Country| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=W_9jMwwC4foC| year = 2009| publisher = CSIRO Publishing| location = Collingwood, Victoria| isbn = 978-0643096066| page = 97 }} Overall population numbers fluctuate widely and erratically depending on wetland conditions and breeding success across the continent. The species is assessed as being of least concern.{{cite web |url= http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3813|title= Australian Pelican |access-date=7 August 2012 |work=BirdLife species factsheet |publisher=BirdLife International}}

Pelicans have been persecuted by humans for their perceived competition for fish, despite the fact that their diet overlaps little with fish caught by people. Starting in the 1880s, American white pelicans were clubbed and shot, their eggs and young were deliberately destroyed, and their feeding and nesting sites were degraded by water management schemes and wetland drainage. Even in the 21st century, an increase in the population of American white pelicans in southeastern Idaho in the US was seen to threaten the recreational cutthroat trout fishery there, leading to official attempts to reduce pelican numbers through systematic harassment and culling.{{cite book |title=Management of American White Pelicans in Idaho. A Five-year Plan (2009–2013) to Balance American White Pelican and Native Cutthroat Trout Conservation Needs and Manage Impacts to Recreational Fisheries in Southeast Idaho |author=Wackenhut, M. |date=17 August 2009 |publisher=Idaho Fish & Game |url=http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/wildlife/planPelican.pdf |access-date=21 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120824035950/http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/wildlife/planPelican.pdf |archive-date=24 August 2012 }}

Great white pelicans on Dyer Island, in the Western Cape region of South Africa, were culled during the 19th century because their predation of the eggs and chicks of guano-producing seabirds was seen to threaten the livelihood of the guano collectors. More recently, such predation at South African seabird colonies has impacted on the conservation of threatened seabird populations, especially crowned cormorants, Cape cormorants, and bank cormorants. This has led to suggestions that pelican numbers should be controlled at vulnerable colonies.

Apart from habitat destruction and deliberate, targeted persecution, pelicans are vulnerable to disturbance at their breeding colonies by birdwatchers, photographers, and other curious visitors. Human presence alone can cause the birds to accidentally displace or destroy their eggs, leave hatchlings exposed to predators and adverse weather, or even abandon their colonies completely.{{cite web |url=http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.showFile&rep=file&fil=CodeofPractice.pdf |title= Code of Practice for the Protection of the Dalmatian Pelican |access-date=3 August 2012 |work=Information leaflet |publisher=Life Natura Program}}{{cite web |url=http://blogs.mprnews.org/statewide/2012/05/loving_em_to_death/ |title=Loving 'em to death |access-date=14 February 2017 |work=Statewide |first=Dan |last=Gunderson |publisher=MPR News |date=16 May 2012 }}{{cite book |title=Status Review of California Brown Pelican |author1=Burkett, Esther |author2=Logsdon, Randi J. |author3=Fien, Kristi M. |year=2007 |series=California Fish and Game Commission Reports |publisher=U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Planning and Evaluation |url=http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/publications/docs/BRPEStatusReviewJan0308.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111220103002/http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/publications/docs/BRPEStatusReviewJan0308.pdf |archive-date=20 December 2011 }}

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DDT pollution in the environment was a major cause of decline of brown pelican populations in North America in the 1950s and 1960s. It entered the oceanic food web, contaminating and accumulating in several species, including one of the pelican's primary food fish – the northern anchovy. Its metabolite DDE is a reproductive toxicant in pelicans and many other birds, causing eggshell thinning and weakening, and consequent breeding failure through the eggs being accidentally crushed by brooding birds. Since an effective ban on the use of DDT was implemented in the US in 1972, the eggshells of breeding brown pelicans there have thickened and their populations have largely recovered.{{cite book |title= National accomplishments in pollution control, 1970–1980: some case histories|isbn=1236274539 |author=Anon |year=1980 |publisher= U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Planning and Evaluation|pages=183–184}}{{cite web |url= http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/DDT_and_Birds.html |title=DDT and Birds |access-date=6 August 2012 |author1=Ehrlich, Paul R. |author2=Dobkin, David S. |author3=Wheye, Darryl |publisher=Stanford University |year=1988}}

In the late 1960s, following the major decline in brown pelican numbers in Louisiana from DDT poisoning, 500 pelicans were imported from Florida to augment and re-establish the population; over 300 subsequently died in April and May 1975 from poisoning by the pesticide endrin.{{cite web |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=861&dat=19820428&id=075dAAAAIBAJ&pg=3543,7071462|title= Bird species regroup with residue decline |access-date=8 August 2012 |work=The Victoria Advocate: Julius Ermis' Outdoors |author=Ermis, Julius |date=29 April 1982}} About 14,000 pelicans, including 7,500 American white pelicans, perished from botulism after eating fish from the Salton Sea in 1990. In 1991, abnormal numbers of brown pelicans and Brandt's cormorants died at Santa Cruz, California, when their food fish (anchovies) were contaminated with neurotoxic domoic acid, produced by the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia.{{cite journal |author1=Work, Thierry M. |author2=Barr, Bradd |author3=Beale, Allison M. |author4=Fritz, Lawrence |author5=Quilliam, Michael A. |author6=Wright, Jeffrey L.C. |year=1993|title=Epidemiology of domoic acid poisoning in Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) and Brandt's Cormorants (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) in California|jstor=20460314 |journal=Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=54–62}}

As waterbirds that feed on fish, pelicans are highly susceptible to oil spills, both directly by being oiled and by the impact on their food resources. A 2007 report to the California Fish and Game Commission estimated that during the previous 20 years, some 500–1,000 brown pelicans had been affected by oil spills in California. A 2011 report by the Center for Biological Diversity, a year after the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, said that 932 brown pelicans had been collected after being affected by oiling and estimated that ten times that number had been harmed as a result of the spill.{{cite web |url=http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/energy/dirty_energy_development/oil_and_gas/gulf_oil_spill/pdfs/GulfWildlifeReport_2011.pdf |title=A Deadly Toll |access-date=6 August 2012 |work=Report |publisher=Center for Biological Diversity |date= April 2011}}

Where pelicans interact with fishers, through either sharing the same waters or scavenging for fishing refuse, they are especially vulnerable to being hooked and entangled in both active and discarded fishing lines. Fish hooks are swallowed or catch in the skin of the pouch or webbed feet, and strong monofilament fishing line can become wound around bill, wings, or legs, resulting in crippling, starvation, and often death. Local rescue organisations have been established in North America and Australia by volunteers to treat and rehabilitate injured pelicans and other wildlife.{{cite web |url=http://www.sbwcn.org/#!news-&-events/vstc3=pelican-crisis |title=The Brown Pelican Crisis|access-date=5 August 2012 |work=News and Events |publisher= Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network }}{{cite web |url=http://collier.ifas.ufl.edu/SeaGrant/pubs/PelicanPub.pdf |title=Quick Reference for Rescuing Hooked Pelicans |access-date=5 August 2012 |publisher=University of Florida}}{{cite book |title= The Impact of Recreational Fishing on Estuarine Birdlife on the Far North Coast of New South Wales |author1=Ferris, Lance |author2=Ferris, Rochelle |year=2004 |publisher=Australian Seabird Rescue |location=Ballina, New South Wales |url= https://www.box.com/shared/8fcmrpsvobv8y7yg0uap }}

As with other bird families, pelicans are susceptible to a variety of parasites. Avian malaria is carried by the mosquito Culex pipens, and high densities of these biting insects may force pelican colonies to be abandoned. Leeches may attach to the vent or sometimes the inside of the pouch.{{cite book |title= Fleas, Flukes and Cuckoos. A Study of Bird Parasites |author= Rothschild, Miriam |author-link= Miriam Rothschild |author2= Clay, Theresa |year= 1953 |publisher= Collins |location= London |pages = 32, 121, 147, 215 |url= https://archive.org/details/fleasflukescucko017900mbp |access-date=29 June 2012}} A study of the parasites of the American white pelican found 75 different species, including tapeworms, flukes, flies, fleas, ticks, and nematodes.

The brown pelican has a similarly extensive range of parasites. The nematodes Contracaecum multipapillatum and C. mexicanum and the trematode Ribeiroia ondatrae have caused illness and mortality in the Puerto Rican population, possibly endangering the pelican on this island.{{cite journal | last= Dyer | first= William G. | author2= Williams, Ernest H. Jr | author3= Mignucci-Giannoni, Antonio A. | author4= Jimenez-Marrero, Nilda M. | author5= Bunkley-Williams, Lucy | author6= Moore, Debra P. | author7= Pence Danny B. | year= 2002 | title= Helminth and Arthropod Parasites of the Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, in Puerto Rico, with a Compilation of all Metazoan Parasites Reported from this Host in the Western Hemisphere | journal= Avian Pathology | volume= 31 | issue= 5 | pages= 441–48 | doi= 10.1080/0307945021000005815 | pmid= 12427338 | s2cid= 21351183 | df= dmy-all | doi-access= free }}

Many pelican parasites are found in other bird groups, but several lice are very host-specific. Healthy pelicans can usually cope with their lice, but sick birds may carry hundreds of individuals, which hastens a sick bird's demise. The pouch louse Piagetiella peralis occurs in the pouch and so it cannot be removed by preening. While this is usually not a serious problem even when present in such numbers that it covers the whole interior of the pouch, sometimes inflammation and bleeding may occur from it and harm the host.{{cite journal | last= Overstreet | first= Robin M. |author2=Curran, Stephen S. | year=2005 | title= Parasites of the American White Pelican | journal= Gulf and Caribbean Research | volume= 17 |pages= 31–48 | url =http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1430&context=parasitologyfacpubs&sei-redir=1 |format =PDF| doi= 10.18785/gcr.1701.04 | doi-access= free | bibcode= 2005GCRes..17....4O }}

In May 2012, hundreds of Peruvian pelicans were reported to have perished in Peru from a combination of starvation and roundworm infestation.{{cite web|title= Pelícanos en La Libertad murieron por desnutrición y parasitosis | date= 4 May 2012 | url= http://peru.com/2012/05/04/actualidad/nacionales/pelicanos-libertad-murieron-desnutricion-y-parasitosis-noticia-62307 | language = es | publisher=Peru.com, 4 May 2012 | access-date=29 June 2012}}

The pelican has played a prominent symbolic role in human cultures across time and geography. From ancient Egypt to Indigenous Australia, and from Christian allegory to modern logos and mascots, pelicans have been interpreted as emblems of protection, sacrifice, care, and transformation. Their distinctive appearance and behaviors have inspired myths, religious symbolism, heraldic devices, institutional emblems, and even the naming of other animal species.{{Cite journal |last1=Wood |first1=Hannah M. |last2=Scharff |first2=Nikolaj |date=2018-01-11 |title=A review of the Madagascan pelican spiders of the genera Eriauchenius O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1881 and Madagascarchaea gen. n. (Araneae, Archaeidae) |journal=ZooKeys |language=en |issue=727 |pages=1–96 |doi=10.3897/zookeys.727.20222 |doi-access=free |issn=1313-2970 |pmc=5799789 |pmid=29416388|bibcode=2018ZooK..727....1W }}{{Cite web |title=The Brand Pelikan |url=https://www.pelikan.com/int/brand/the-brand-pelikan.html |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=Pelikan |language=en-gb}} This section explores the rich and varied ways in which pelicans have been woven into spiritual, national, artistic, and popular narratives around the world.File:Breeding pelicans. Wall fragment from the Sun Temple of Nyuserre Ini at Abu Gurob, Egypt. c. 2430 BCE. Neues Museum, Berlin.jpg at Abu Gurob, Egypt. {{circa|2430 BCE}}. Neues Museum, Berlin]]

The pelican (henet in Egyptian) was associated in Ancient Egypt with death and the afterlife. It was depicted in art on the walls of tombs, and figured in funerary texts, as a protective symbol against snakes. Henet was also referred to in the Pyramid Texts as the "mother of the king" and thus seen as a goddess. References in nonroyal funerary papyri show that the pelican was believed to possess the ability to prophesy safe passage in the underworld for someone who had died.{{cite book| author = Hart, George| title = The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods And Goddesses| series = Routledge Dictionaries| year = 2005| publisher = Routledge| location = Abingdon, United Kingdom| isbn = 978-0-415-34495-1| page = 125}}

In Jewish dietary law, pelican is not considered kosher (fit for consumption), as it is a type of seabird and therefore considered an unclean animal.{{Cite book|title = Old Testament (King James Version) – Book of Leviticus (also included in Jewish Torah)|publisher = Bible Gateway|url = https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=leviticus%2011-11&version=KJV|pages = 11}}{{Cite book|title = Old Testament (King James Version) – Book of Deuteronomy (also included in Jewish Torah)|publisher = Bible Gateway|url = https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deuteronomy%2014-14&version=KJV|pages = 14}}

An origin myth from the Murri people of Queensland, cited by Andrew Lang, describes how the Australian pelican acquired its black and white plumage. The story tells that the pelican was once a black bird. During a flood, he made a canoe to save drowning people. He fell in love with a woman and decided to save her, but she and her friends tricked him and escaped. The pelican consequently began preparing to go to war against them by daubing himself with white clay as war paint. Before he had finished, another pelican, on seeing such a strange piebald creature, killed him with its beak, and all such pelicans have been black and white ever since.{{cite book| author = Lang, Andrew| title = Myth, Ritual & Religion, Volume 1| orig-year=1887|year = 2005| publisher = Cosimo Inc.| location = New York, New York| isbn = 978-1-59605-204-8| pages = 140–41}}

The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped nature.Benson, Elizabeth (1972) The Mochica: A Culture of Peru New York: Praeger Press. They placed emphasis on animals and often depicted pelicans in their art.{{cite book|author1=Berrin, Kathleen |author2=Larco Museum | title = The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Larco Museum| year = 1997| publisher = Thames and Hudson| location = New York, New York| isbn = 0500018022}}

File:Bergatreute Pfarrkirche Hochaltar Vogelnest.jpg

File:Poster The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Association.JPG poster]]

The Physiologus, a didactic Christian text from the 3rd or 4th century, claims that pelicans kill their young when they grow and strike their parents in the face, but then the mother laments them for three days, after which she strikes her side and brings them back to life with her blood.{{cite web |last= Stracke |first= Richard |title= The Pelican Symbol |year= 2018 |website= ChristianIconography.Info |url= https://www.christianiconography.info/pelicans.html|access-date=6 June 2022}} The Physiologus explains this as mirroring the pain inflicted on God by people's idolatry, and the self-sacrifice of Jesus on the cross which redeems the sinful (see the blood and water gushing from the wound in his side). This text was widely copied, translated, and sometimes closely paraphrased during the Middle Ages, for instance by 13th-century authors Guillaume le Clerc and Bartholomaeus Anglicus.

The self-sacrificial characterization of the pelican was reinforced by widely read medieval bestiaries. The device of "a pelican in her piety" or "a pelican vulning (from Latin vulnerō, "I wound, I injure, I hurt") herself" was used in religious iconography and heraldry.

The legends of self-wounding and the provision of blood occur across cultures. For example, an Indian folktale depicts a pelican that killed her young by rough treatment, but was then so contrite that she resurrected them with her own blood. Such legends may have arisen because of the impression a pelican sometimes gives that it is stabbing itself with its bill. In reality, it often presses this onto its chest to fully empty the pouch. Another possible derivation is the tendency of the bird to rest with its bill on its breast; the Dalmatian pelican has a blood-red pouch in the early breeding season and this may have contributed to the myth.

In a newer, also medieval version of the European myth, the pelican was thought to be particularly attentive to her young, to the point of providing them with blood by wounding her own breast when no other food was available. As a result, the pelican came to symbolise the Passion of Jesus and the Eucharist,{{cite book |author= Gauding, Madonna |title= The Signs and Symbols Bible: The Definitive Guide to Mysterious Markings |page= 263 |year= 2009 |publisher= Sterling Publishing Company |location= New York, NY |isbn= 9781402770043 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SImTll3uupIC&q=pelican |access-date=20 September 2019}}{{cite encyclopedia |entry= pelican |year= 2005 |editor1=F. L. Cross |editor2=E. A. Livingstone |title= The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church |publisher=Oxford University Press |edition= 3rd |via= oxfordreference.com |isbn= 9780199566716 |url= https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192802903.001.0001/acref-9780192802903-e-5250 |access-date=6 June 2022}} supplementing the image of the lamb and the flag.{{cite book |author= McGrath, Alister E. |author-link= Alister McGrath |title= In the beginning: the story of the King James Bible and how it changed a nation, a language and a culture |orig-year= 2002 |year= 2012 |publisher= Anchor Books, a Division of Random House, Inc. |location= New York |isbn= 9781444745269 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=lkM5AgAAQBAJ&q=pelican |access-date= 20 September 2019}} This mythical characteristic is referenced in the hymn "Adoro te devote" ("Humbly We Adore Thee"), where in the penultimate verse, Saint Thomas Aquinas describes Christ as the loving divine pelican, one drop of whose blood can save the world.{{cite book |author=United States Conference of Catholic Bishops |title= Catholic Household Blessings & Prayers |year=2007 |isbn= 9781574556452 |page=12 |publisher= USCCB |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=yk11nPl7a3oC&q=pelican |access-date=20 September 2019}} Similarly, the 1678 Christian allegorical novel The Pilgrim's Progress describes how "the pelican pierce[s] her own breast with her bill … to nourish her young ones with her blood, and thereby to show that Christ the blessed so loveth his young, his people, as to save them from death by his blood."{{cite book |last= Bunyan|first= John|author-link= John Bunyan|date= 1678 |title= The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come |location= New York|publisher= Pocket Books|publication-date= 1957|page= 227}}

The pelican is featured in many Christian artworks, especially in Europe. For example, the first (1611) edition of the King James Bible contains a depiction of a pelican feeding her young in an oval panel at the bottom of the title page. The "pelican in her piety" appears in the 1686 reredos by Grinling Gibbons in the church of St Mary Abchurch in the City of London. Earlier medieval examples of the motif appear in painted murals, for example, the mural in the parish church of Belchamp Walter, Essex (c. 1350).{{cite web |title=The Pelican in its Piety at Painted Churches online catalog. Anne Marschall |url=http://www.paintedchurch.org/bwaltpel.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412101325/http://www.paintedchurch.org/bwaltpel.htm |archive-date=12 April 2016}}

File:Nicholas Hilliard (called) - Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I - Google Art Project.jpg (circa 1573), in which Elizabeth I wears the medieval symbol of the pelican on her chest]]

Elizabeth I of England adopted the symbol, portraying herself as the "mother of the Church of England". A portrait of her called the Pelican Portrait was painted around 1573, probably by Nicholas Hilliard.{{cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/collections/13c-16c/elizabeth.aspx|title='Queen Elizabeth I: The Pelican Portrait', called Nicholas Hilliard (c. 1573)|year=1998|work=Walker Art Gallery|publisher=National Museums Liverpool|access-date=29 July 2012|location=Liverpool, United Kingdom|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416214748/http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/collections/13c-16c/elizabeth.aspx|archive-date=16 April 2014}}

File:Coa Hungary Family Kiszely - Benedekfalva.svg depict a "pelican in her piety" both in the crest and shield.|left]]

Pelicans have featured extensively in heraldry, generally using the Christian symbolism of the pelican as a caring and self-sacrificing parent.{{cite web|last1=Saunders|first1=Rev. William|title=The Symbolism of the Pelican|url=http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/the-symbolism-of-the-pelican.html|website=Arlington Catholic Herald|date=24 November 2003 |language=en-gb}} Heraldic images featuring a "pelican vulning" refers to a pelican injuring herself, while a "pelican in her piety" refers to a female pelican feeding her young with her own blood.{{cite book|last1=Gough|first1=Henry|title=A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry|date=1894|publisher=J. Parker|page=[https://archive.org/details/aglossarytermsu08parkgoog/page/n496 451]|url=https://archive.org/details/aglossarytermsu08parkgoog|access-date=19 August 2017|language=en}} The King of Portugal John II adopted the pelican as is own personal sygil while he was Infante, evoking the Christian symbology to equate the sacrifice of his blood to feed the nation. The pelican as a symbol also became synonymous with the increasing charity efforts of the Santas Casas da Misericórdia during his reign and the reconstruction of the Hospital das Caldas da Rainha and the Hospital Real de Todos-os-Santos, which were mainly patronaged by his wife D. Leonor.{{Cite book |last=Silva |first=Priscilla |url=https://www.historia.uff.br/stricto/teses/Dissert-2007_SILVA_Priscila_Aquino-S.pdf |title=Entre Príncipe Perfeito e Rei Pelicano - os Caminhos da Memória e da propaganda política através do estudo da imagem de D. João II (século XV) |publisher=Universidade Federal Flaminense |year=2007}}

The heraldic pelican also ended up as a pub name and image, though sometimes with the image of the ship Golden Hind.{{cite book| last = Rothwell| first = David| title = Dictionary of Pub Names| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=k-4SrdUPNFoC| access-date = 29 June 2012| year = 2006| publisher = Wordsworth Editions| location = London, United Kingdom| isbn = 1840222662| page = 295 }} Sir Francis Drake's famous ship was initially called Pelican, and adorned the British halfpenny coin.{{cite book| last = Sugden| first = John| title = Sir Francis Drake| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2CEgmN-3VcMC| access-date = 29 June 2012| orig-year = 1990| year = 2012| publisher = Random House| location = London, United Kingdom| isbn = 978-1448129508| page = 99 }}

Pelicans are widely used as emblems by educational institutions, especially universities. In Louisiana, the bird adorns the seals of Louisiana State University, Tulane University, Louisiana Tech University, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Loyola University New Orleans, Southeastern Louisiana University, and Southern University. The seal of the Packer Collegiate Institute, depicting a pelican feeding her young, has been in use since 1885.{{cite web |title=Middle School Handbook |url=https://fc.packer.edu/Websites/MSHandbook/mshb2003.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130217094354/https://fc.packer.edu/Websites/MSHandbook/mshb2003.htm |archive-date=17 February 2013 |work=packer.edu}} The medical faculties of Charles University in Prague also have a pelican as their emblem, invoking the bird's long-standing association with self-sacrifice in Christian symbolism.{{cite web |year=2012 |title=First Faculty of Medicine |url=http://www.lf1.cuni.cz/en |access-date=2 May 2012 |publisher=Charles University in Prague |location=Prague, Czech Republic}}

The image became also linked to the medieval religious feast of Corpus Christi. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge each have colleges named for the religious festival nearest the dates of their establishment, and both Corpus Christi College, Cambridge,{{cite web |year=2011 |title=College Crest |url=http://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/about-corpus/maps-and-tours/take-a-virtual-tour/199 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120719111316/http://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/about-corpus/maps-and-tours/take-a-virtual-tour/199 |archive-date=19 July 2012 |access-date=2 May 2012 |publisher=Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom}} and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, feature pelicans on their coats of arms.{{cite web |title=Corpus Christi |url=http://www.ccc.ox.ac.uk/Home/ |access-date=2 May 2012 |publisher=Corpus Christi College, Oxford}}

In sports, the pelican serves as a mascot and logo for various teams and university athletics. It is the mascot of the New Orleans Pelicans NBA team,{{Cite web |title=Pelicans Home {{!}} Official Site of the New Orleans Pelicans {{!}} Pelicans.com |url=https://www.nba.com/pelicans/ |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=www.nba.com |language=en}} the Lahti Pelicans ice hockey team,{{Cite web |title=Lahden Pelicans |url=https://www.pelicans.fi/ |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=pelicans.fi |language=en}} Tulane University,{{Cite web |title=Down Memory Lane {{!}} Tulanian |url=https://tulanian.tulane.edu/fall-2022/down-memory-lane |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=tulanian.tulane.edu |language=en}} and the University of the West Indies.{{Cite web |date=2010-07-10 |title=The Pelican (the UWI Mascot) |url=https://www.uwi.edu/alumnionline/pelican-uwi-mascot-and-pelican-award |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=Alumni Online Community |language=en}}

File:Gunther Wagner coat of arms.png company, Pelikan. Inspired by the coat of arms of its former owner Günther Wagner. ]]

The pelican has also been used as a corporate emblem. The logo of the renowned German stationery company Pelikan was inspired by the family coat of arms of Günther Wagner, the company's former owner.{{Cite web |title=The Brand Pelikan |url=https://www.pelikan.com/int/brand/the-brand-pelikan.html |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=Pelikan |language=en-gb}} He based the trademark on the heraldic image from his coat of arms, originally depicting a pelican feeding three chicks in a nest—later changed to four after the birth of his fourth child. While Wagner modified the original shield shape, the nurturing pelican motif remained central to the brand's visual identity.

Commercially, the pelican has been adopted as a corporate symbol in banking, publishing, and healthcare. A white pelican logo is used by the Portuguese bank Montepio Geral,{{cite web |title=Montepio institutional |url=http://www.montepio.pt/SitePublico/pt_PT/institucional.page? |access-date=29 June 2012 |work=Montepio Bank website |publisher=Montepio |language=pt}} The name and image were also employed by Pelican Books, an imprint of nonfiction titles published by Penguin Books. In the context of blood donation, where the pelican's symbolism of self-giving is especially resonant, the Irish Blood Transfusion Service features a pelican in its logo and operated for many years from Pelican House in Dublin.{{cite web |title=Irish Blood Transfusion Service |url=http://www.giveblood.ie/ |access-date=13 June 2012 |publisher=IBTS}} Similarly, Sanquin, the nonprofit organization responsible for blood supply in the Netherlands, uses a stylized pelican in its logo, continuing this humanitarian association.{{Cite web |title=The Story of Sanquin |url=https://www.sanquin.nl/en/about-sanquin/the-story-of-sanquin |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=www.sanquin.nl/ |language=en}}File:Flag of Louisiana.svg|left]]File:Albanien2.jpg coin.|left]]

As a cultural symbol of nations and states, the pelican holds prominent status. The great white pelican is the national bird of Romania.{{cite web |url=http://www.eupedia.com/europe/national_birds_flowers_europe.shtml|title= National Birds|access-date=20 July 2012 |work= List of national birds and flowers or plants of European countries|publisher=Eupedia}} The brown pelican is the national bird of three Caribbean countries—Saint Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, and Sint Maarten—and features on their coats of arms.{{cite web|url=http://www.bidc.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=115&Itemid=96|title=Pelican Craft Centre: Overview|access-date=21 July 2012|publisher=Barbados Investment and Development Corporation|archive-date=10 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810102008/http://bidc.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=115&Itemid=96|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://stkittsheritage.com/historic_heritage.asp |title=National Symbols: The Coat of Arms |access-date=20 July 2012 |work=Historic Heritage |publisher=St Christopher National Trust |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120713073043/http://stkittsheritage.com/historic_heritage.asp |archive-date=13 July 2012 }}{{cite book |title=The World Factbook 2016–17 |editor=United States Central Intelligence Agency |year=2016 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Government Printing Office |page=668 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HfywxU2EnFwC&pg=PA668 |isbn=978-0-16-093327-1}} A Dalmatian pelican is also depicted on the reverse of the Albanian 1 lek coin, issued in 1996.{{cite web |year=2009 |title=Albanian coins in issue in 1995, 1996 and 2000 |url=http://www.bankofalbania.org/web/Albanian_coins_of_circulation_43_2.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306234131/http://www.bankofalbania.org/web/Albanian_coins_of_circulation_43_2.php |archive-date=6 March 2009 |access-date=23 March 2009 |publisher=Bank of Albania}} In the United States, it is the state bird of Louisiana, which is colloquially known as the Pelican State; the bird appears on both the state flag and state seal.

Alcatraz Island was given its name by the Spanish because of the large numbers of brown pelicans nesting there. The word alcatraz is itself derived from the Arabic al-caduos, a term used for a water-carrying vessel and likened to the pouch of the pelican. The English name albatross is also derived by corruption of the Spanish word.{{cite book |author=Skeat, Walter W. |url=https://archive.org/stream/etymologicaldict00skeauoft#page/14/mode/2up |title=An etymological dictionary of the English Language |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1888 |edition=2nd |page=14}}{{cite journal |last=Grant |first=Martin L. |year=1951 |title=The Origin of the Common Names of Birds |journal=BIOS |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=116–119}}

File:Eriauchenius milajaneae (10.3897-zookeys.727.20222) Figure 16.jpg, a member of Archaeidae, also known as pelican spiders. A lateral view of a female and its genitalia. ]]

Archaeidae, a family of spiders, are known as 'pelican spiders'. The name refers to their unusually elongated jaws and necks used to catch their prey, which give them a profile similar to that of a pelican. They are found in Madagascar, South Africa, and Australia.

The pelican is the subject of a popular limerick originally composed by Dixon Lanier Merritt in 1910 with several variations by other authors.{{cite journal|journal=Louisiana Conservationist |title=The case of the pelican limerick|url=https://archive.org/stream/louisianaconserv101depa#page/6/mode/1up/| author=Laney, Rex|pages=6–7, 22| year=1958|volume=1| issue=10}} The original version ran:{{cite book| last = Knowles| first = Elizabeth| title = The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oGDiVDZ8sjcC| orig-year = 1981| year = 1999| publisher = Oxford University Press| location = Oxford, United Kingdom| isbn = 0198601735| page = 506}}

{{Blockquote|

:A wonderful bird is the pelican,

:His bill will hold more than his belican,

:He can take in his beak

:Food enough for a week,

:But I'm damned if I see how the helican.}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite encyclopedia |last=Elliott |first=Andrew |title=Family Pelecanidae (Pelicans) |editor1-first=Josep |editor1-last=del Hoyo |editor2-first=Andrew |editor2-last=Elliott |editor3-first=Jordi |editor3-last=Sargatal |encyclopedia=Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 1: Ostrich to Ducks |publisher=Lynx Edicions |year=1992 |location=Barcelona |pages=[https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0001unse/page/290 290–311] |isbn=978-84-87334-10-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0001unse/page/290 }}

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{{Portal|Birds|Animals}}

• {{cite EB9 |wstitle = Pelican |volume= XVIII |last=Newton |first= Alfred |author-link= Alfred Newton | pages=474-475 |short=1}}
• [http://ibc.lynxeds.com/family/pelicans-pelecanidae Pelican videos] on the Internet Bird Collection

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{{Pelecaniformes genera|P.|state=collapsed}}

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Category:Articles containing video clips

Category:Extant Chattian first appearances

Category:National symbols of Barbados

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Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus