History Main / PelicanPackagePouch

Compare BeakAttack, KangarooPouchRide, and TreasureChestCavity. For the "postal" side of the trope, compare InstantMessengerPigeon, FlyingPostman, and DeliveryStork.

* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheAnimalPlanet'' and ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheWingedBraves'' portray humanoid pelicans as postmen, with their letters in their pouches.

* Abraham Tuizentfloot from the Flemish comic series ''ComicStrip/{{Nero}}'' flies around in the pouch of his pet pelican Filemon in "Het Wonderwolkje".
* The Danish comic series ''ComicStrip/RasmusKlump'' (known as "Petzi" in France and Germany) features Pelle, a Pelican who helps his friends by providing various tools that he keeps in his seemingly HyperspaceArsenal beak.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14104090/3/The-N-awlins-Connection The N'awlins Connection]]'' the head of the École de Magie du Grand Bayou uses a pelican to deliver a message to Dumbledore and Minister Fudge as a way of making a statement.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* In the "Kiss the Girl" number from ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'', fishes pop out of pelicans' beaks to sing backup.

* In ''Animation/DragonAndSlipper'', a messenger pelican delivers the LovePotion from the wizard Merlin to Queen Guinevra.
* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' features a pelican postman, who falls off his bicycle as Eddie is exiting Maroon Studios. Although he doesn't use its pouch to carry mail, you can see a fish peeking out just before he falls.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Octogeddon}}'', the Pelican tentacle can swallow up enemies and store them in its beak before shooting them away.

* Amelette the Pelican from ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana'' is the enthusiastic, yet [[TheDitz ditzy]] and stubborn mail carrier of the world of Fa'Diel. She is partially shaped like a Japanese mailbox, her pouch looking like a red mailbag with even the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_postal_mark Japanese postal mark "〒"]] on it.
* In ''VideoGame/TheFlintstonesTheRescueOfDinoAndHoppy'', the bonus rounds involve Fred Flintstone playing basketball against a rival caveman. The pelicans' pouches take the places of the basketball hoops, and after the basketball is tossed in their pouches, they spit it back out.
* The pelican in ''Animal Soccer World'' by ''Creator/DingoPictures''. He uses it first to pass out flyers for the soccer game and second to catch the ball by accident when it's kicked off-field.

* Parodied in a ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' CutawayGag, where [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Barney Rubble]] uses a pelican as a ''[[{{Squick}} toilet]]''.
-->'''Pelican:''' You think ''you've'' got a [[ToiletHumour crap]] job...
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/ShaunTheSheep'' had a pelican who enters the farmhouse in search for fish to eat. The Farmer, having lemon juices accidentally squirted into his eyes, mistakenly tosses the squeezed lemon halves into the pelican's bill instead of the waste bucket, much to the bird's disgust.
* On ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', a pelican has a lucrative job catching fish for a local fishmonger. He catches Spunky, and Rocko has to buy his dog back.
* The Creator/DingoPictures [[TheMockbuster mockbuster]] ''Animal Soccer World'' has a pelican airdropping leaflets for the upcoming soccer match.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':
** In an episode of the anime, a trainer cheats by stuffing his Pelipper's bill with several Poké Balls, allowing the water bird to perform attacks he shouldn't be able to like Flamethrower (actually a Magby), Vine Whip (actually a Bellsprout), or Thunderbolt (actually a Magnemite), sometimes even [[CombinationAttack at the same time]].
** In ''Sun and Moon'', a Pelipper is used as a Ride Pokémon, with Ash on its back, and Rowlet and [=RotomDex=] riding in its beak pouch.
** In ''Anime/PokemonJourneys'', a Pelipper owned by Team Rocket transports the Rocket Prize Master anywhere, carrying the machine in its beak.

Pelican Package Pouch is when a pelican uses its huge natural gular pouch to carry and hide objects or small creatures. It makes sense in a way, as animals usually don't have {{Body Pocket}}s, so having a pelican in the scene could provide the quick hiding spot you are looking for in tense moments, working as a [[TreasureChestCavity living safe]]. If the pelican is on your side, it could even potentially carry the item to someone without the bad guys noticing. It is not a rare sight either to see in fiction the pelican's pouch being ''always'' filled with water, sometime even with some fishes living in there.

* ''WebOriginal/{{Serina}}'''s pelecanaries (flightless marine canaries) did evolve pelican-like bills and pouches for the express purpose of carrying things, namely their eggs, allowing them to completely cut ties with the land and become fully aquatic.

* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheAnimalPlanet'' and ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheWingedBraves' portray humanoid pelicans as postmen, with their letters in their pouches.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14104090/3/The-N-awlins-Connection The N'awlins Connection]]'' the headmistress of the École de Magie du Grand Bayou uses a pelican to deliver a message to Dumbledore as a way of making a statement.

* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheAnimalPlanet'' films portray humanoid pelicans as postmen, with their letters in their pouches.

* A couple ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' films portray humanoid pelicans as postmen.

* ''WebOriginal/{{Serina}}'''s pelecanaries (flightless marine canaries) did evolve pelican-like bills and pouches for the express purpose of carrying things, namely their eggs.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E15MissionaryImpossible Missionary Impossible]]". Homer believes that things work like on ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' and tries to use a pelican like a cement mixer; the pelican [[BlackComedy falls over dead]].

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E15MissionaryImpossible Missionary Impossible]]". Homer believes that things work like on ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' and tries to use a pelican like a cement mixer; the pelican [[RealityEnsues falls over dead]].

* Creator/RoaldDahl's story ''The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me'' features Pelly the Pelican who at one point catches a thief in its beak; the burglar then tries to free himself by shooting at the peak and makes several bullet holes in it (Pelly [[OnlyAFleshWound ends up fine]], don't worry).

* In the "Kiss the Girl" number from ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'', fishes pop out of pelicans' beaks to sing backup.

** Pelipper is a pelican described in the Pokedex as "a flying transporter that carries small Pokemon and eggs to safety in its bill", and is sometime nicknamed the "messenger of the skies".

The trope somehow evolved over time from "pelican delivers an item hidden in its beak" to "pelicans are [[InstantMessengerPigeon delivery birds]]". Even though it evolved so much that Pelican Posties do not necessarily use their pouch anymore, trading it for an actual and much more handy postbag, the animal is still often associated with mail delivery.