Cormorant (White-breasted)

Largest African Cormorant 85-95 cm, the White-breasted Cormorant is the only form of the Great Cormorant found in sub-Saharan Africa. A fish and frog eater with a white throat and breast - yellow at base of throat. The white-breasted cormorant is able to swallow larger than the normal diameter of its neck because a unique musculature of the neck allows it to stretch out.

 

The throat, or gular pouch, is also used as a signaling device and as a means for cooling the body. By panting and fluttering the gular pouch, blood passing through the rich concentration of capillaries is rapidly cooled.

 

Photographed at Toronto Zoo, Toronto, ON