Darwin’s demon is alive, and her name is Wisdom. This age-defying Laysan albatross, the world’s oldest known bird, just gave birth to a new chick. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wisdom was seen with her new chick on February 4 at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.
This chick is the seventh offspring in seven years for Wisdom. Biologists, who have been tracking this bird since she was first found incubating an egg in 1956, think Wisdom has birthed between 30 and 35 progeny in her lifetime. Although her exact birth year is unknown, scientists believe Wisdom to be 63 years old. Albatrosses do not reach reproductive maturity until five years of age. Thus, Wisdom had to be at least five when she was first banded in 1956. Since then, Wisdom has worn off five tracking bands.
Albatrosses can live up to 50 years in the wild. They spend most of their lives off of land, riding the wind currents over the ocean. The typically albatross wingspan of six feet allows them to ride these currents for hundreds of miles at a time. Predictions based on her 63 year lifespan suggest Wisdom has literally flown millions of miles.
While at sea, albatrosses drink salt water and feed on oceanic squid or fish. They sometimes follow ships, hoping for edible donations. Samuel Taylor Coleridge poetically documented this ship-following behavior in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Unfortunately, the albatross of Coleridge’s poem did not fare as well as Wisdom has. It was shot by a crossbow and hung about the shooter’s neck.
Although Wisdom’s relationship to ancient mariners cannot be determined, biologists know that Wisdom has weathered life-threatening situations. In 2011, a tsunami hit an albatross breeding ground, killing 2000 adults and 110,000 chicks. Wisdom emerged from the natural disaster unscathed.
Wisdom’s group of albatrosses returns to the same Pacific island near Hawaii to breed every November. During breeding season, albatrosses will congregate in a large colony.
In the safety of the colony, females scratch a shallow nest and lay a single egg. The female and male of a mating pair, who remain joined for life, will take turns incubating the egg. Once the chick hatches and learns to fly, it will leave land for three to five years until it reaches sexual maturity.
Albatross chicks are particularly susceptible to plastic trash floating in the ocean. They often mistake it for food and feed it to their chicks.
While the plastic does not kill the birds directly, it irreversibly fills up the stomach, reducing space for food. If such oceanic pollution remains, the average lifespan of these birds could decrease, making Wisdom’s story even more of an outlier.
