The 74-year-old Laysan albatross Wisdom, the oldest known wild bird in the world, is predicted to give birth to another young chick in the upcoming months, shocking experts who have been studying her since the Eisenhower administration.
According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Wisdom laid an egg on November 27 on Midway Atoll, a landmass in the Pacific Ocean. It should hatch in approximately two months, according to researchers, making her a mother for the thirty-odd time. In 2021, her last chick hatched.
Wisdom’s lifespan and her capacity to procreate as she ages have long astounded scientists. “It is quite exceptional” for a bird of Wisdom’s age to lay an egg, according to Jonathan Plissner, a supervisory wildlife scientist at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, who told BBC Radio 4 that “the typical age that birds can survive is probably closer to 30 years.” According to him, the next oldest albatross at Midway Atoll that scientists are aware of is roughly 45 years old.
“She is special,” Plissner remarked. “As far as we are aware, no one else is even close to her age.”
The wildlife refuges researchers discovered that, just a few years prior to her birth, Wisdom had returned on November 26 to Midway Atoll, which is located around 1,930 kilometers northwest of Honolulu and was the scene of one of the most significant battles during World War II.
According to the experts, Wisdom started communicating with a new mate as soon as she arrived. Albatrosses typically mate for life, however in the event that their partner passes away; they will locate new mates with whom to procreate. Wisdom has outlived at least three mates, according to Plissner.
Although Akeakamai has not been spotted in a number of years, she has been hatching and raising offspring with another albatross named Akeakamai for decades, most recently in 2021. Wisdom’s new friend received a tracking band. According to researchers, he remained behind to nurture the egg while Wisdom temporarily returned to the water.
Wisdom’s ability to endure in the face of growing environmental threats to albatrosses, such as plastic pollution and rising sea levels that jeopardize their nesting areas, is fittingly titled, according to Carl Safina, a marine scientist at Stony Brook University who has researched seabirds.
According to Safina, birds can continue to lay eggs into old age; however their rate may decrease with age. Since scientists started monitoring Wisdom in 1956, she has laid between 50 and 60 eggs annually, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Albatrosses can only lay one egg annually. According to Plissner’s statement for the agency, at least 30 chicks had emerged from those eggs and flown out of the nest. Safina remarked, “I think we cannot look at that bird and not be amazed that she is still reproducing and has placed an egg.”
-Raja Aditya
