World’s oldest-known wild bird lays an egg in Hawaii at age 74
Laysan albatrosses mate for life, but Wisdom appears to have found a new partner after her previous one went missing
The oldest-known wild bird in the world has laid an egg at the ripe age of about 74, her first in four years, US wildlife officials said.
The long-winged seabird named Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge at the northwestern edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago and laid what experts estimate may be her 60th egg, the Pacific Region of the US Fish & Wildlife Service said 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 has not been seen for several years and Wisdom began interacting with another male when she returned last week, officials said.
“We are optimistic that the egg will hatch,” Jonathan Plissner, supervisory wildlife biologist at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge said in a statement.
