World's oldest known bird hatches a new chick
The oldest recorded bird, 'Wisdom' is a Laysan albatross at 62 years old. February 3rd, early sunday morning she hatched another egg succefully. The new chick is said to be healthy and developing well! When the bird was first banded back in 1956, she had been incubating an egg in the very same area of refuge, and has worn out 5 bands since then. In her lifetime she has most likely hatched more than 35 chicks.Wisdom continues to inspire people with a hope for her species. This bird has been rewarded with a good amount of recognition from the cheif of the North American Bird Banding Program, Bruce Peterjohn, "It is beyond words to describe the amazing accomplishments of this wonderful bird [...], if she were human she would be eligible for medicare in a couple years yet she is still regularly raising young and normally circumnavigating the Pacific Ocean. Simply incredible."
Even more incredible than her ability and motive to raise a new bird each year, might be the very number of miles shes flown! Albatross fly about 50,000 miles every year. Wisdom has resided in the pacific and has made that journey many times. Shes flown 2-3 million miles! or 4-6 trips to the moon and back. An albatross can actually glide thousands of miles without flapping their wings. They do this by adjusting their six foot wings to get the most of air currents high in the sky.
Nature of science themes:
-science is collaborative. It takes many people and volunteers to look out for albatross and document such signifcant events.
-science is based on evidence. The claims of earth's oldest bird needs credibility, which thanks to NABBP, it does.
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Wiki on albatross:
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