Oldest Known Wild Bird Hatches Chick at Age 70
On February 1, the world’s oldest known wild bird became a mother once again when her chick hatched on the Midway Atoll in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean.
Scientists first attached a red identifying ankle band to Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, in 1956. She’s now at least 70 years old and has outlived the researcher who first banded her, reports Nina Wu of the Honolulu Star Advertiser.
Just shy of 20 years ago, scientists thought the maximum age of the Laysan albatross was around 40 years, reports Kim Steutermann Rogers for National Geographic. But when Chandler Robbins, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who first banded her, recaptured the bird to replace the tattered ankle band in 2002, Wisdom was 51 and instantly vaulted into position as the oldest wild bird ever recorded.
In fact, Wisdom may be even older than 70. She was conservatively estimated to be five-years-old when scientists first recorded her vitals, but it hasn’t stopped her from laying eggs in eight out of the last 11 years, per National Geographic. The septuagenarian albatross has been raising chicks with her mate Akeakamai since at least 2010, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Laysan albatross typically partner up for life, but Wisdom has had to find several new mates after she outlived her former beaus.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/oldest-known-wild-bird-hatches-chick-age-70-180977114/#.YEFfdxuQOBp.twitter
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