World’s oldest bird has now hatched her 40th chick
Wisdom is a 65-year-old albatross living in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and she's still kicking. She's also been quite busy, as she just hatched her 40th chick.
The baby's name is Kūkini, which is Hawaiian for "Messenger," and he was born in an Laysan albatross mating ground on the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the Hawaiian islands. While most humans or animals at 65 would be too old for this sort of work, Wisdom flew off after hatching the bird to gather squid, small fish and fish eggs as baby food.
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Kūkini stayed with his father for the first week, another Laysan albatross named Gooo, named because it's similar to his tag number of 6000 and because birds can't protest the names we give them. Wisdom returned shortly after the Super Bowl to take over parenting duties (a reminder that this bird is 15 years older than the Super Bowl).
And it's also worth noting that Wisdom is at least 65 years old, possibly older. Her age is only known because she was first tagged in 1956, when she was already grown.
Currently Gooo is off gathering food while Wisdom tends to her chick and presumably waits for her 39 other children to call their mother once in a while.
[H/T: Christian Science Monitor]
