GIVING US LIFE

‘Queen of the Seabirds’ Is Hatching a New Chick at the Age of 74

She’s already laid between 50 and 60 eggs in her lifetime.

Please clap: An elderly Laysan albatross named Wisdom is preparing to hatch yet another chick at the grand old age of 74, an achievement the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Pacific celebrated in a tweet this week. The “queen of the seabirds” is the “world’s oldest known wild bird” and she has a new boyfriend, with her former long-term partner—Akeakamai—not having been seen with her in some years, The Independent reports. The couple used to get together each year at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the North Pacific, where Wisdom would often lay a single egg. In her remarkably long lifetime (the BBC reports that Laysan albatrosses usually live for 12 to 40 years) Wisdom has produced 50 to 60 eggs and over 30 fledglings, most recently in 2021. Jon Plissner, Midway’s Supervisory Wildlife Biologist, told The Independent staff are “optimistic that the egg will hatch.” Congratulations to our girl.