It's not often a 68-year-old becomes a mother, but one albatross nesting at Midway Atoll could manage it.
Federal wildlife authorities reported Wisdom, the world's oldest known wild bird, and her mate Akeakamai returned to their nest in the national wildlife refuge in late November, as they have every year since 2006, and biologists confirmed the pair had an egg.
The two Laysan albatrosses are part of the world's largest colony of the large sea birds. More than a million albatross and 3 million sea birds nest at the former U.S. naval air station, including three different types of albatross. The birds, which can weigh up to nine pounds and have a wingspan of up to 80 inches, spend 90 percent of their time at sea.
While Wisdom's exact age is unknown - she was first banded in 1956 at the 2.4-square-mile Pacific atoll - she is at least 68.
Midway Atoll is west of Hawaii, nearly equidistant from North America and Asia. The atoll, best known as for a nearby World War II naval battle, has been a wildlife refuge since 1988.
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