Wisdom, the world’s oldest wild bird, lays another egg at 68
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Wisdom is believed to be 68 years old. (USFWS)
Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, is living proof that age is just a number.
The winged creature -- which is at least 68 years old and is the “world’s oldest known banded bird in the wild,” according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- laid an egg on Midway Atoll on November 29, biologists there confirmed.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Wisdom and her mate Akeakamai return to the same nest site on Midway Atoll each year. Albatross often take time off to rest between egg-laying years, but the pair has met on Midway to lay and hatch an egg every year since 2006,” the wildlife agency continued.
The bird has laid an estimated 40 eggs during her lifetime, NPR reported.
When she’s not laying eggs, Wisdom spends 90 percent of her life at sea, where she feeds on squid and fish eggs.
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“In the past, many albatross were banded with aluminum bands that sometimes became corroded by sand and salt water. These early bands would often fall off in 20 years or less,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.
But the same is not true for Wisdom, who was first banded by a biologist named Chandler Robbins in 1956. Experts have replaced Wisdom's bands throughout the years, and this confirms the bird is the same one Robbins first banded all those years ago.