Some individual snowy albatrosses are known to circumnavigate the Southern Ocean three times in one year, covering more than 120,000 km (75,000 mi).

The species was first described as Diomedea exulans by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, based on a specimen from the Cape of Good Hope.

[9] They also have a salt gland that is situated above the nasal passage and helps desalinate their bodies, due to the high amount of ocean water that they imbibe.

They excrete a high saline solution from their nose, which is a probable cause for the pink-yellow stain seen on some animals' necks.

[15] As a result of its large wingspan, it is capable of remaining in the air without flapping its wings for several hours at a time (traveling 22m for every meter of drop).

[25] Immature birds have been recorded weighing as much as 16.1 kg (35 lb) during their first flights (at which time they may still have fat reserves that will be shed as they continue to fly).

[1] Some individual snowy albatrosses are known to circumnavigate the Southern Ocean three times, covering more than 120,000 km (75,000 mi), in one year.

[18] At breeding time they occupy loose colonies on isolated island groups in the Southern Ocean.

[9] Wanderers have a large range of displays from screams and whistles to grunts and bill clapping.

[36] During the early stages of the chick's development, the parents take turns sitting on the nest while the other searches for food.

[37] Researchers previously assumed that chicks went without food for the whole winter after a weaning period of roughly 12 to 16 weeks.

[39] Sailors used to capture the birds for their long wing bones, from which they made tobacco pipe stems.

The early explorers of the great Southern Sea were cheered by the companionship of the albatross in their dreary solitudes, and as shown in Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner killing them was seen as extremely bad luck.

The metaphor of "an albatross around his neck" also comes from the poem and indicates an unwanted burden causing anxiety or hindrance.

[41] Because the wing bones of albatross are light but very strong, Māori used them to make a number of different items including kōauau (flutes),[42] needles, tattooing chisel blades,[43] and barbs for fish hooks.