The great white pelican was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the current binomial name Pelecanus onocrotalus.

Thus the sexual dimorphism is especially pronounced in this species (perhaps the greatest known in any extant pelican), as at times the male can average more than 30% more massive than the female.

The great white pelican rivals the kori bustard, which has even more pronounced sexual dimorphism, as the heaviest flying bird to reside in Africa (both averaging perhaps slightly heavier than the cape vulture and the wattled crane).

Standard measurements from different areas indicate that pelicans from the Western Palaearctic are somewhat larger than those from Asia and Africa.

The plumage is predominantly white except on remiges, with a faint pink tinge on the neck and a yellowish base on the foreneck.

[7] The primary feathers are black, with white shafts at the bases, occasionally with paler tips and narrow fringes.

[16] The bill is mostly bluish grey, with a red tip, reddish maxilla edges, and a cream-yellow to yolk-yellow gular pouch.

[12] It differs from the Dalmatian pelican in its pure white – rather than greyish-white – plumage, a bare pink facial patch around the eye, and pinkish legs.

[9] Similarly, the pink-backed pelican (P. rufescens) is smaller, with brownish-grey plumage, a light pink to off-grey bill, and a pinkish wash on the back.

[7] Northern populations migrate to China, India, Myanmar, with stragglers reaching Java and Bali in Indonesia.

[1] Great white pelicans usually prefer shallow, (seasonally or tropical) warm fresh water.

[7] In Eurasia, fresh or brackish waters may be inhabited and the pelicans may be found in lakes, deltas, lagoons and marshes, usually with dense reed beds nearby for nesting purposes.

[7] Additionally, sedentary populations are found year-round in Africa, south of the Sahara Desert although these are patchy.

In Africa, great white pelicans occur mainly around freshwater and alkaline lakes and may also be found in coastal, estuarine areas.

[24] Beyond reed beds, African pelicans have nested on inselbergs and flat inshore islands off of Banc d'Arguin National Park.

[15] Once aloft, the long-winged pelicans are powerful fliers, however, and often travel in spectacular linear, circular, or V-formation groups.

[1] It leaves its roost to feed early in the morning and may fly over 100 km (62 mi) in search of food, as has been observed in Chad and in Mogode, Cameroon.

They dip their bills in unison, creating a circle of open pouches, ready to trap every fish in the area.

Most feeding is cooperative and done in groups, especially in shallow waters where fish schools can be corralled easily, though they may also forage alone as well.

In some situations, they eat chicks of other birds, such as the well documented case off the southwest coast of South Africa.

[26] Similarly, in Walvis Bay, Namibia the eggs and chicks of Cape cormorants are fed regularly to young pelicans.

A flock of captive great white pelicans in St James's Park, London is well known for occasionally eating local pigeons, despite being well-fed.

[7] Predators of the pelicans' eggs and chicks include mammalian animals like foxes, gulls, frigatebirds, crows, skuas, African fish eagles (Haliaeetus vocifer), and marabou storks (Leptoptilos crumenifer).

However, in some regions of Africa, terrestrial predation occurs at night while roosting, caused by jackals, hyenas and lions.

[34] Today, because of overfishing in certain areas, white pelicans are forced to fly long distances to find food.

Their pouch is used to make tobacco bags, their skin is turned into leather, the guano is used as fertiliser, and the fat of its young is converted into oils for traditional medicine in China and India.

Human disturbance, loss of foraging habitat and breeding sites, as well as pollution are all contributing to the decline of the great white pelican.