Thursday, December 26

World’s oldest known wild bird lays her first egg in four years at age 74

The oldest wild bird in the world is planning to carry on her heritage.

According to U.S. Wildlife officials, Wisdom, a 74-year-old Laysan albatross, just deposited her first egg in four years in Hawaii.

According to a post on X on Tuesday by the US Fish & Wildlife Service’s Pacific Region, the seabird queen returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Pacific Ocean last week and started associating with a new male companion.

According to USFWS Pacific, Wisdom visits the same nesting location every year to be with her mate and, if feasible, lay one egg. For the species of Laysan albatross, known as m l in Hawaiian, this is standard behavior.

Millions of them come back to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge every year to lay their eggs and rear their young. According to a Facebook post from USFWS Pacific, Wisdom in particular has been doing this since the Eisenhower era.

According to USFWS Pacific, this smart bird hasn’t been sighted in many years, despite reuniting with his longtime lover, Akeakamai, for decades.

Although the age of Wisdom’s new mate is unknown, officials said he received a leg tag last week for follow-up surveillance. In a video that USFWS Pacific uploaded on X, it appears that the two untamed birds are getting along just well. Before he sat down to incubate their egg, Wisdom was observed rubbing her head on her new spouse.

He is “quite content” doing so, according to USFWS Pacific, and will continue to incubate the egg for roughly three weeks until Wisdom relieves him.

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Wisdom appears to have the stamina and instincts to raise another baby, according to Jon Plissner, a supervisory wildlife scientist at Midway Atoll NWR, who described her first egg in four years as “a special joy.”

“We are optimistic that the egg will hatch,” he stated.

According to officials, Wisdom has given birth to up to 30 chicks and produced between 50 and 60 eggs over her lifespan.

According to USFWS Pacific, Wisdom deposited an egg in 1956, marking her initial identification and banding with the number Z333. Large seabirds like her are not known to breed before the age of five, so she would have been about six years old at the time.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration states that a Laysan albatross typically lives for 68 years.

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