‘World’s oldest’ albatross loses long-time mate. Now, she’s back on the hunt for love

Irene Wright
·2 min read
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Still months away from the first season of the “Golden Bachelorette” airing this fall, there is another senior gal already on the hunt for love — in the middle of the Pacific.

Meet Wisdom, a Laysan albatross who has spent more than seven decades in the skies.

As one of the largest birds on the planet, she is also one of the oldest.

Wisdom is estimated to be at least 72 years old, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Columbia Pacific Northwest, making her the “world’s oldest known wild bird.”

Wisdom (right) was banded in 1956 after laying her first egg, wildlife officials said.
Wisdom (right) was banded in 1956 after laying her first egg, wildlife officials said.

“Biologists first identified and banded Wisdom in 1956 after she laid an egg, and the large seabirds aren’t known to breed before age 5,” USFWS said in an April 12 Facebook post.

Albatrosses spend most of their life in the air, but Wisdom has been making sporadic stops on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, a small island off the northwest coast of Hawaii, officials said.

“Each year, millions of seabirds return to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the North Pacific Ocean to nest and raise their young,” USFWS said. “Wisdom, specifically, has been doing this since the Eisenhower administration.”

In past years, Wisdom landed on the island with long-time partner Akeakamai, officials said, but after two nesting seasons passing without an appearance, it is likely Akeakamai is not coming back.

Wisdom is back on the dating scene.

Wisdom has been “actively courting” in the hopes of finding her next long-term partner, officials said.
Wisdom has been “actively courting” in the hopes of finding her next long-term partner, officials said.

“Mōlī females lay a single egg in the first half of December, said Jonathan Plissner, supervisory wildlife biologist at the national wildlife refuge, but that didn’t stop the possibly 72-year-old Wisdom from participating in mating dances with a few suitors,” USFWS said on Facebook.

Wisdom has laid between 50 and 60 eggs throughout her life, Plissner told officials, with as many as 30 chicks fledging.

“She was still actively courting other birds in March,” Plissner told USFWS.

The “courting” behavior is a mix of sound, dance and energy, but Wisdom doesn’t let her age slow her down, as evidenced by a video taken by Plissner and shared by the Friends of Midway Atoll in December.

Laysan albatross have a wingspan well over 6 feet and nest on the grassy areas of low, flat islands, according to the National Audubon Society. They have a population of more than 1 million but are nearing threatened status.

More than 450,000 nesting pairs come to Midway Atoll each year, according to the Ocean Conservancy.

Albatross mate for life, the conservancy says, and have an unknown lifespan.

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