The world’s oldest known wild bird has laid an egg at an estimated age of 74, US biologists say.
Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, was photographed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) at the Midway Atoll wildlife refuge in the Pacific Ocean with her latest egg-guarding mate.
Members of this species usually only live 12-40 years, but Wisdom was spotted in 1956 when she was about five years old.
Her last offspring hatched in 2021. It is thought that she had more than 30 chicks in her lifetime.
The USFWS told X that Wisdom had a new mate this year and that her previous mate Akeakamai had not been seen for several years.
This species usually mates for life, but it is thought that they will live for at least three generations.
Jon Plissner, a wildlife biologist at the refuge, told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that Wisdom is one of two to three million Laysan albatrosses that travel to Midway to breed.
He said biologists don’t know of any other birds even close to his age, which is 45.
“It’s been really remarkable,” he said. “It seems that wisdom arouses the enthusiasm of people all over the world. We wait year after year in silence for his return.”
He said that Wisdom seems to have the strength and feeling to raise another chick, and there is a 70-80% chance that the egg will hatch.
Albatross parents share incubation duties and, once the chick is hatched, nursing duties.
Intelligence was first observed and noted in 1956 after laying an egg. The Laysan albatross is not known to breed before the age of five.
Midway Atoll is part of the Hawaiian archipelago but does not fall within the US state of Hawaii and is defined as an unincorporated US territory.
The wildlife refuge is home to the largest albatross colony in the world.
Source link
