By Dean Murray via SWNS
The world’s oldest bird may have lost her mate – but she’s been spotted courting new suitors.
Wisdom, the Laysan albatross, or mÅlÄ«, has been photographed dancing with potential mates on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.
The seabird, recognized by her well-known band number Z333, is thought to be around 72 years old.
Wisdom has been seen sporadically since arriving for nesting season in late November. She was spotted in March socializing with male birds.
Her long-time mate, Akeakamai, has yet to be seen and was absent the last two nesting seasons, too.
MÅlÄ« females lay a single egg in the first half of December, said Jonathan Plissner, supervisory wildlife biologist at the national wildlife refuge, but that didn’t stop the possibly 72-year-old Wisdom from participating in mating dances with a few suitors.
Plissner reported to USFWS (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service): “She was still actively courting other birds in March. She is quite spry for a septuagenarian!”
Biologists first identified and banded Wisdom in 1956 after she laid an egg, and the large seabirds aren’t known to breed before age 5.
It is estimated that Wisdom has produced 50-60 eggs and as many as 30 chicks that fledged in her lifetime, according to Plissner.
Each year, millions of seabirds return to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the North Pacific Ocean to nest and raise their young.
