Taken together, this means albatrosses have one of the lowest reproductive rates of any bird. Albatrosses are very long-lived birds, with some individuals living to over 60 years of age. However as so many are now being killed, many populations are in rapid decline.

Imam al-Sadiq (PBUH) said: The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny) gave Fatimah (PBUH) in marriage to Ali (PBUH) with (the dower of) an armor at the price of thirty Dirhams.

The albatrosses mostly try to eat the bait and get dragged under and drowned. Collisions with trawl net cables are also a significant cause of mortality.

This is having a concerning impact on albatross populations. All species of albatross lay just a single egg at one time, and many species only breed every other year. In addition, most take 10 years to reach maturity before they can successfully breed.

According to estimates, there are only around 5000 breeding pairs left of the Chatham albatross in the world.

Researchers have discovered that trawling and longline fishing boats – where fishing vessels set lines containing thousands of baited hooks – are killing more than 100,000 albatrosses every year.17 Wandering albatrosses, for example, are attracted to the baited hooks set by tuna longliners.

The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny) said: He who gives as much as a handful of grains or dates as a dowry (with the acceptance of the partner), surely his marriage is lawful and correct.

The grey-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma), light-mantled sooty albatross (Phoebetria palpebrata), and wandering albatross also breed on South Georgia.

15 of the world’s 22 albatross species are endangered. This includes the Chatham albatross (Thalassarche eremita), a medium-sized black-and-white albatross which breeds only on The Pyramid, a large rock stack in the Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

The black-browed albatross is the most frequently encountered of the family. This bird is native to the Southern Oceans, with 70% of the world’s population breeding on the Falkland Islands. South Georgia, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean is another popular breeding spot. There are estimated to be 1.4 million mature black-browed albatrosses in the world.

Imam al-Sadiq (PBUH) said: The worst sins are three: Labouring animals as murder, restraining the dower of a woman, and withholding the wage of a worker.

There are 22 species of albatross. Perhaps the most well-known member of the albatross family is the wandering albatross, also known as the snowy albatross. This feathered giant has the largest wingspan of any bird on the planet – a whopping 3.5m. It breeds mostly on islands just to the north of the Antarctic Circle, but ranges across the entire Southern Ocean.

Imam Ali (PBUH) said: Do not make the dowry of women heavy, because it creates enmity.

Imam al-Sadiq (PBUH) said: Verily, one of the blessings of a woman is the inexpensiveness of her dower, while one of her bad omens is the heaviness of her dower.

Females lay one egg at a time, and parents will take it in turns to incubate the egg while the other hunts for food. Fledgling albatrosses take a long time to grow and reach maturity. Depending on the species they can spend five to 10 years at sea before they are ready to return to land to mate.

Their Latin name, Diomedea, was coined by Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy. It refers to the ancient Greek legend of Diomedes, a warrior whose companions were transformed into…
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