World's oldest wild bird: At least 72 years old and still able to fall in love

Wisdom is back.

Wisdom is a female Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis), the world's oldest known wild bird . A week ago, she was seen again at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, which means Wisdom is still alive. She is at least 72 years old this year , and this oldest bird is still writing her legend.

Wisdom (center) photographed on December 3, 2023｜Jon Plissner / USFWS

Reunited with Humanity

In fact, no one knows how old "wisdom" is.

In 1956, scientist Chandler Robbins was conducting a long-term study on seabird and aircraft collisions, and for this purpose he tied leg bands to the albatrosses on Midway Island for record keeping . At that time, there were more than 8,000 albatrosses banded, and Wisdom was just an ordinary one among them, with her number "Z333".

In 2002, Robbins returned to Midway Atoll to find some previously banded birds and re-band them. Then he found "Z333" - the band he had put on almost half a century ago.

Wisdom, photographed in February 2021, with a red "Z333" anklet on her foot｜Jon Brack / Friends of Midway Atoll

Robbins named the long-lost albatross "Wisdom" . "Wisdom" was already sexually mature when it was banded in 1956, and the earliest age for a Laysan albatross to reach sexual maturity is 5 years old. This means that "Wisdom" was born in 1951 at the latest and is at least 72 years old this year.

Albatrosses return to their birthplaces to breed almost every year. Midway Atoll in the Hawaiian Islands is the breeding ground for 70% of the world's Laysan albatrosses. Every autumn and winter, they return to the island to mate, build nests, and breed offspring, then leave the island and fly to the sea, waiting to return for the next winter. This habit year after year allowed Robbins to reunite with "Wisdom" and also allowed humans to get to know this long-lived seabird.

A large family

Albatrosses practice monogamy and form lifelong partnerships. They only lay one egg a year , and when the chicks hatch, the two partners will take turns going out to sea to hunt and come back to feed the chicks. Because there is only one egg a year, albatross partners will invest a lot of energy in raising their offspring, and the survival rate of their offspring is also related to the continuation of the population.

In 2006, researchers noticed that Wisdom had a male partner, Akeakamai. However, considering Wisdom's long life, this may not be her first partner. Between 2006 and 2020, Wisdom and her partner laid more than 10 eggs - even though Wisdom was already in her 60s and 70s.

Wisdom (left) and her partner in 2015 | USFWS - Pacific Region

Scientists speculate that during her lifetime, Wisdom may have laid 50 to 60 eggs and hatched 30 to 36 chicks . She also became a grandmother.

In 2011, the 3.11 earthquake in Japan triggered a huge tsunami, which also affected Midway Island, killing 110,000 flightless albatross chicks on the island. But perhaps because there was vegetation outside the nest of Wisdom to provide shelter, her chicks luckily survived . Last year, someone discovered that the lucky bird is now raising its own chicks, which are Wisdom's grandchildren.

Wisdom and her chicks in 2011, both of whom survived the tsunami. | John Klavitter / USFWS

Wisdom and luck

Why can "wisdom" live so long?

"I think over the years she must have learned how to avoid predators in the ocean, how to forage efficiently, and probably how to avoid plastics and potential fishing boats," John Klavitter, a biologist at the Midway National Wildlife Refuge, said in an interview.

Albatross on Midway Island | United States Navy

When it comes to surviving, albatrosses have many hurdles to overcome.

In the early 20th century, hundreds of thousands of albatrosses were hunted for their feathers , causing them to disappear from some islands. In addition, albatrosses spend 90% of their lives at sea, so fish hooks, fishing nets and oil spills also threaten their survival .

During World War II, Midway Atoll was the base of the US Navy's aviation facilities, and military activities caused the death of many birds on the island . In the 1950s and 1960s, tens of thousands of albatrosses were killed to reduce accidents of bird-aircraft collisions. Until this century, birds on Midway Island were still suffering from the risk left over from the war - lead poisoning . The buildings left behind by the Navy used toxic lead paint. These paint fragments fell into the soil and were ingested by albatross chicks, causing neurological diseases and even death. 10,000 chicks may die each year . After several years of governance, Midway Island was finally declared a lead-free environment in 2018.

The Laysan albatross is listed as a "vulnerable" species by the IUCN. Although their numbers are currently stable after a series of protection measures, albatrosses still face many threats - including plastic waste .

Like other islands, Midway Island also receives garbage from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Every year, up to 20 tons of marine debris accumulates on the beaches of Midway Island, 90% of which is plastic. Albatrosses feed on cephalopods such as squid and octopus, as well as fish. They may accidentally eat plastic when hunting and feed it to their young. Indigestible plastic garbage may cause the death of one-third of chicks every year .

A dead albatross chick found several lighters in its stomach | B. Mayer

Keep flying

Fortunately, this year "wisdom" has returned to Midway Island.

This seabird, born more than 70 years ago, has experienced the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, witnessed globalized trade, and perhaps also felt that the Pacific routes have finally become quiet in the past three years. The human world is ever-changing, but she just returns to the island year after year, reproduces with her partner, and then flies to the sea, like an unchanging fixed point in the impermanent world.

Robbins once said that after he rediscovered Wisdom in 2002, he started a personal competition with Wisdom to see who would go back each year . One year, Wisdom disappeared before the chicks hatched, and Robbins thought he had won, but he didn't expect that Wisdom would return to Midway Island the next year.

In the end, wisdom won the game. Robbins never returned to Midway Island. He died in 2017 at the age of 98 .

Chandler Robbins, Professor of Ornithology, United States Geological Survey

Since 2021, Wisdom's partner Akeakamai has not appeared for three consecutive years, which means he may have died. Biologists at the reserve speculated that Wisdom would not build a nest and lay eggs this year, but he found that this seabird, at least 72 years old, participated in the mating dance - perhaps for Wisdom, at only 72 years old, life must go on.

I hope to hear the good news that “wisdom is back” next year.

References

[1] https://www.acap.aq/fr/actualites/dernieres-nouvelles/wisdom-the-seventy-something-laysan-albatross-dances-in-another-season-on-midway-atoll

[2] https://friendsofmidway.org/

[3] https://www.npr.org/2021/03/05/973992408/wisdom-the-albatross-now-70-hatches-yet-another-chick

[4] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/wisdom-worlds-oldest-wild-bird-expecting-age-67-180967718/

Author: Mai Mai

Edit: Small towel

Title image source: USFWS