Mar 09
Oldest Bird Raising Young
Posted in: science, Today's Chili, Weird News
Here’s some inspiration for older parents everywhere. When the stress of the kids is proving to be too much, just channel a little bit of Wisdom, the 60-something Laysan albatross who is currently raising child number 30.
Wisdom is the oldest known bird in the U.S. She was first spotted in 1956, when the US Geological Survey stuck an identity run on her leg. She was laying on a egg at the time, putting her around at least eight or nine-years-old, the breeding age for her species.
Says researcher Bruce Peterjohn, “While the process of banding (ringing) a bird has not changed greatly during the past century, the information provided by birds marked with a simple numbered metal band has transformed our knowledge of birds.”
The USGS recently snapped the above image of Wisdom with a chick on the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Pacific.
Post a Comment