ALBATROSSES

Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the
procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes. They range
widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific.
Albatrosses are known for being monogamous, forming a long-term bond with one
partner that is rarely broken. They're often said to have the lowest "divorce rate" of any bird;
mated pairs virtually never split up until one bird dies. These pair bonds don't necessarily
adhere to the human definition of romance.
An annoying burden: “That old car is an albatross around my neck.” Literally, an albatross is a
large sea bird. The phrase alludes to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem “The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner,” in which a sailor who shoots a friendly albatross is forced to wear its carcass around
his neck as punishment.