Connect with us

World

Wisdom, the world’s oldest known bird, lays egg at 74 years old: Watch the video

Published

1 week ago

on

Wisdom, the world’s oldest known bird, lays egg at 74 years old: Watch the video

play

The oldest known bird in the world laid an egg, becoming a mother again at approximately 74, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, laid the egg at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge at the northwest edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago with a new partner, according to a Tuesday Facebook post from the Service’s Pacific Region.

It is the first egg Wisdom has laid in four years and researchers estimate that the bird has laid between 50 and 60 eggs in its life.

Jonathan Plissner, supervisory wildlife biologist at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, called the event a “special joy” and said in the post that observers are “optimistic that the egg will hatch” as the father appears to be content on the nest during his long incubation shift.

World’s oldest known bird laid first eggs in 1950s

Wisdom was first found and banded in 1956 after she laid an egg, according to the USFWS. Laysan albatrosses are not known to breed before they are five years old.

Wisdom has raised 30 chicks in her life, according to the USFWS. Wisdom had previously mated consistently with an albatross, Akeakamai, who has not been seen for several years.

The species’ average lifespan in around 68 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading