World's oldest known wild bird lays egg at 74, first in years

MIDWAY ATOLL (WKRC) - The oldest known bird in the world, an albatross named Wisdom, laid an egg at the age of 74.

Wisdom was first tagged by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 1956 when she was just 5 years old. Despite the fact that her species typically only lives for 12 to 40 years, Wisdom recently celebrated her 74th birthday. Supervisory wildlife biologist Jon Plissner said that the second oldest known albatross was only 45.

Wisdom spent most of her life at Midway Atoll, a national wildlife refuge in the Pacific Ocean that is an unincorporated U.S. territory. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) estimated that Wisdom had 30 chicks over her long life.

The USFWS announced on X that Wisdom had laid yet another egg, despite her elderly age, on Dec. 3.

"SHE DID IT AGAIN!" the post began. "Wisdom, the world's oldest known wild bird, is back with a new partner and just laid yet another egg. At an approximate age of 74, the queen of seabirds returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge last week and began interacting with a male."

Wisdom's species typically mates for life, but because of Wisdom's extended lifespan she has outlived an estimated three mates, the USFWS said. They also noted that Wisdom's previous mate had not been seen for many years.

Despite her old age, Plissner said that Wisdom was taking care of the egg exceptionally well with her new mate, and estimated the egg had a 70 to 80 percent chance of hatching.