The world’s oldest known wild bird has laid an egg at the ripe old age of about 74, her first in four years, according to U.S. officials.
The long-winged seabird named Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, returned to the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge on the northwest edge of the Hawaiian archipelago and laid what experts estimate could be its 60th egg, the U.S. Ocean Service said. U.S. Fish and Wildlife for the Pacific region in a Facebook post this week.
Wisdom and her mate, Akeakamai, had returned to the atoll in the Pacific Ocean to lay and hatch eggs since 2006. Laysan albatrosses mate for life and lay one egg per year. But Akeakamai hasn’t been sighted in several years, and Wisdom began interacting with another male when he returned last week, according to officials.
“We are optimistic that the egg will hatch,” said Jonathan Plissner, a wildlife biologist who serves as a supervisor at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in a statement. Each year, millions of seabirds return to the refuge to nest and have young.
Albatrosses take turns incubating an egg for about seven months. The chicks fly to the sea approximately five to six months after hatching. They spend most of their lives flying over the ocean and feeding on squid and fish eggs.
Wisdom was first banded as an adult in 1956 and has raised up to 30 chicks, Plissner said.
The typical lifespan of a Laysan albatross is 68 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.