What species of bird is Wisdom, who hatched a chick at the age of 70 in 2021?

Wisdom, a wild female Laysan albatross, is the oldest confirmed wild bird in the world, who hatched a chick on 1st February 2021 at the age of 70. Biologists estimate that she has hatched at least 30–36 chicks during her lifetime.

In 1956, Wisdom was tagged by scientists at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in Hawaii. She was approximately already five years old at the time. She was tagged to help the refuge monitor the population of Laysan albatrosses and collect date about their longevity, behaviour and migration patterns.

The bird first caught the world's attention in 2014 when she laid her 36th egg. Albatrosses tend to lay one egg a year, so it was fairly easy for scientists to estimate the number of chicks Wisdom hatched. Usually, albatrosses mate for life, but due to her age, Wisdom has likely had more than one partner.

Laysan albatrosses are large seabirds that live in the North Pacific region. Approximately 99.7% of the population are found in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Females lay a single buff-white egg, which takes around 65 days to hatch.