Wisdom is a "beacon of
hope" for the Laysan albatross, which faces threats such as ingesting
ocean plastic.
PUBLISHED JANUARY 2, 2018
Wisdom, the albatross supermom,
has done it again. At 67, the
world's oldest known wild bird has laid an egg at her home on the Midway Atoll.
Wisdom and her mate, Akeakamai,
return each year to the Papahānaumokuākea
Marine National Monument to nest and raise a single chick. On
December 13, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) confirmed the pair were
incubating a new egg.
In her long life, Wisdom has
outlived several mates and raised anywhere from 30 to 35 chicks. (See National
Geographic's pictures of animal mothers and babies.)
She's also remarkable for having
logged an estimated two to three million miles since 1956—or four to six round
trips to the moon, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. (Related: "Albatross's
Effortless Flight Decoded—May Influence Future Planes.")
"It's just unprecedented
that we have a bird that we know of that's 67 years old and still
reproducing," says Kate Toniolo, deputy superintendent for the marine
national monument.
"It makes you wonder—could
there be a bird two nests away from Wisdom that's even older?"
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