The world's oldest known wild bird just keeps on laying eggs

Wisdom, the oldest known wild bird, and her partner.

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/USFWS Pacific Region)

published 11 January 2018

The world's oldest known wild bird is going to be a mother — yet again. Wisdom, a 67-year-old Laysan albatross, was first spotted in Hawaii's Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in 1956, and has been raising chicks there ever since. Though the albatrosses raise only one chick at a time, leaving the already endangered species vulnerable to natural disasters like tsunamis, Wisdom has delivered and nurtured up to 35 baby birds during her lifetime. Now, she's expecting again. An egg has been spotted in her nest, and she and her longtime mate, Akeakamai, are taking turns incubating it. "It's just unprecedented that we have a bird that's 67 years old and still reproducing," says monument director Kate Toniolo. Christina Colizza