Laysan albatross is the world’s oldest and largest seabird. Wisdom, a 70-year-old bird, gives birth to her 40th child recently. Wisdom lives in a sanctuary on the island of Midway Atoll near Hawaii. Wisdom was discovered by scientists in the United States in 1956. She was just five years old then. Wisdom has had a male albatross, the Akikamai, since 2010. These birds have only one partner for the rest of their lives. But the sheer longevity of Wisdom changed that all. Scientists thought that the age of Laysan albatrosses would be up to a maximum of 40 years. But Wisdom corrected that as well.
In 2002, the U.S. Chandler Robbins, a biologist at the Fish and Wildlife Service, noticed Wisdom while working at Midway Atoll. On examination, it was found that the bird was 51 years old. “Each year that Wisdom returns, we learn more about how long seabirds can live and raise chicks,” Beth Flint, US Fish, and Wildlife Service biologist, told. “It’s really exciting to see that these birds are long-living and still raising chicks at 60 years old or older,” said John Klavitter, USFWS biologist, told. The baby’s gender is presently unknown.
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