What is Pelican?
{{Taxobox | name = Pelican | image = Pelikan Walvis Bay.jpg | image_width = 240px | image_caption = A [[great white pelican]] <br/>flying in Walvis Bay, [[Namibia]] | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]] | classis = [[bird|Aves]] | ordo = [[Pelecaniformes]] | familia = '''Pelecanidae''' | familia_authority = [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque|Rafinesque]], 1815 | genus = '''''Pelecanus''''' | genus_authority = [[Carolus Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758}} '''Pelicans''' are a [[genus]] of large [[water bird]]s of the [[family (biology)|family]] Pelecanidae. They have a long [[beak]] and a large [[throat pouch]]. They drain water from the contents before swallowing the fish. They have mostly pale plumage, the exceptions being the [[Brown pelican|brown]] and [[Peruvian pelican]]s. The bills, pouches and bare facial skin of all species are brightly coloured before the breeding season. The eight living pelican species have a patchy global distribution, ranging [[latitude|latitudinally]] from the [[tropics]] to the [[temperate zone]]. They are absent from interior [[South America]] as well as from [[polar region]]s and the open ocean. == Taxonomy == * Family ''Pelecanidae'' ** [[Great white pelican]] (''Pelecanus onocrotalus'') ** Pink-backed pelican (''Pelecanus rufescens'') ** [[Spot-billed pelican]] (''Pelecanus philippensis'') ** [[Dalmatian pelican]] (''Pelecanus crispus'') ** Australian pelican (''Pelecanus conspicillatus'') ** American white pelican (''Pelecanus erythrorhynchos'') ** [[Brown pelican]] (''Pelecanus occidentalis'') ** Peruvian pelican (''Pelecanus thagus'') == Gallery == <gallery> Image:Pelican.great.white.arp.750pix.jpg|White pelican Image:Spotbilled pelican.jpg|Spot-billed pelican Image:Perupelican.jpg|Peruvian pelican Image:Pelecanus rufescens (75923093).jpg|Pink-backed pelican (''Pelecanus rufescens'') </gallery> [[File:Fliegender Pelikan.JPG|thumb|Pelican in [[Hannover]] Zoo]] {{wikispecies|Pelecanidae}} {{commonscat|Pelecanus}} {{biology-stub}} [[Category:Pelecaniformes]]