Who knows whether albatrosses tell stories to their chicks. If they do, one of the undisputed heroines of those tales is surely Wisdom, a true living legend of her species. Wisdom is a female Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis), a large seabird of the family Diomedeidae that nests on the Hawaiian Islands.

Wisdom's story

At 66 years old, Wisdom is the oldest wild bird in the world, having far surpassed the life expectancy of her species, which is around 40 years. The albatross's age was estimated by American ornithologist Chandler Robbins, the man who first banded Wisdom in 1956. When Robbins first encountered Wisdom she was incubating an egg; he estimated the bird's age at five or six years, as that is the minimum age at which these animals begin to lay eggs.

Maternal instinct knows no age

Thanks to her extraordinary longevity, this bird has laid a very large number of eggs over the course of her life, hatching at least 37 chicks. This is a remarkable figure when one considers that the Laysan albatross, a strictly monogamous species (though Wisdom, given her age, has in all likelihood been forced to find a new mate), lays just one egg per year, always on the same atoll, which it only returns to in order to mate and raise its young.

Wisdom's precious contribution to the species

Despite her venerable age, Wisdom intends to continue making her contribution to the perpetuation of the species. Just a few days ago, biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service observed Wisdom incubating an egg on Midway Atoll, a Hawaiian wildlife refuge located north of Honolulu.

A devoted mother

Wisdom will therefore be a mother once more and, together with her mate, will have to care for her chick, unable to spread her enormous wings and head out to sea until the youngster is independent. Incubation of the egg lasts an average of 65 days, after which the chick is fed by its mother for approximately four months.