Wisdom (R), a Laysan albatross who is at least 74 years old, is pregnant again.
Parenting can be difficult even for the young and energetic, but one elderly albatross is about to experience it again at the ripe (and apparently record-setting) age of 74.
Wisdom the Laysan Albatross is one of the millions of giant seabirds that return to Midway Atoll near Hawaii each year to nest.
Wildlife experts say she has been doing this with the same partner for decades (the birds are known to be monogamous) and has laid more than 50 eggs in her lifetime. It is said that she gave birth.
However, her partner has not seen her for years, and Wisdom has recently started cheating on her with other men.
On this year’s visit, she laid an egg and her new partner helped her hatch it.
“We’re optimistic that the eggs will hatch,” said Jonathan Prisner, a supervisory wildlife biologist at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.
Photos and video provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show the proud parents-to-be talking to the eggs before the male sits on them.
Wisdom was identified and tagged when she laid her first egg at the shelter in 1956. Wisdom would have been at least five years old at the time, the point at which Laysan albatross reaches sexual maturity.
That means Wisdom will be at least 74 years old by the end of this month, but could be several years longer, making her the world’s oldest known wild bird.
The Laysan albatross has a wingspan of up to 80 inches (203 centimeters) and can travel up to 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) in the air in search of food.
The average lifespan of birds varies greatly depending on the species. Small birds often live only two to three years, but seabirds, including albatrosses and penguins, can live up to 40 to 50 years. Parrots are the only birds that live longer than humans, with one parrot said to be well over 100 years old.
There are more than a dozen species of albatross, which live in the Northern Pacific as well as the Southern Hemisphere.
The bird has long been featured in stories of sea life, particularly in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rise of the Ancient Mariners, where a sailor kills a bird and hangs its carcass around his neck to bring misfortune to his ship. It is meant to bring about. .
© 2024 AFP
Source: World’s oldest known wild bird gives birth again, aged 74 (December 6, 2024) From https://phys.org/news/2024-12-world-oldest-wild-bird-ages.html 2024 Retrieved on December 6,
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