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World's Oldest Bird At 65 Gives Birth To Her 40th Chick

By R. Siva Kumar | Update Date: Feb 12, 2016 11:35 AM EST

Wisdom, at 65, is the world's oldest bird, a Laysan albatross. And amazingly, age has not withered her, nor custom staled her infinite charm or breeding output. She gave birth to her 40th chick, named Kukini, Hawaiian for "messenger," by wildlife researchers, says a USFWS blog post.

Hence, while her old mates have died, she has continuously found new ones.

Wisdom has added a branch to her awesome family tree. Last year, an egg that Wisdom and her previous partner were incubating had gone missing, according to NPR.

"Wisdom is an iconic symbol of inspiration and hope," said Robert Peyton, manager of the refuge. "She is breaking longevity records of previously banded birds by at least a decade. With over a million albatross on Midway Atoll alone, this shows just how much is left to learn about the natural world around us."

She was first banded by ornithologist Chandler Robbins in 1956. Through her life, she has had 40 chicks and logged millions of miles of ocean flight time.

Still, all albatross families seem to be expanding in number. About 500,000 active nests are situated in the USFWS Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, which houses the world's largest albatross colony.

"We're learning what these birds are capable of doing at what we consider being an advanced age," said Bruce Peterjohn, chief of the U.S. Bird Banding Laboratory at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. "She lays her eggs and raises her chicks. Common sense says at some point she would become too old for this."

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