World’s oldest known wild bird – Wisdom the albatross , has birthed a chick at the age of 70, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has announced.
According to the wild life service, the Laysan albatross hatched the chick on 1 February in a wildlife refuge in the North Pacific Ocean.
Laysan albatrosses are known to have a life span of 12 – 40 years, Until Wisdom was identified by researchers in 1956.
Although Wisdom was said to have hatched her chick in February, the birth – which took place in the Midway Atoll national wildlife refuge, in a US minor outlying island in the North Pacific , was reported this week.
USFWS Statement Reads 😁
“Wisdom laid her egg sometime during the last few days of November,”
“Soon after, Wisdom returned to sea to forage and her mate Akeakamai took over incubation duties.
Albatross parents share incubation duties and once the chick hatches, they take turns to share feeding duties.”
The father of the chick is Wisdom’s partner, Akeakamai, who she has been with since 2012, US wildlife officials said.
Albatrosses usually mate for life, but it wildlife officials believe Wisdom had other partners in the past that are now dead.
The Wild life service believes she (Wisdom the Albatross) has had at least 30 to 36 chicks in her lifetime which is remarkable because Albatrosses only hatch one egg every few years.