A new mom at 60: How did this bird do it?

Photo: Glen Tepke for the National Audubon SocietyGood thing birds of a feather flock together and all that: A 60-year-old Laysan albatross named Wisdom became a mommy for the umpteenth time two weeks ago, when she hatched a chick on Sand Island in the Midway Atoll, a tiny U.S. territory halfway between Honolulu and Tokyo.

Mom and baby are doing fine, reports say. But since a Laysan albatross mates for with one partner for life and typically lives for about 30 years, the hatching is raising plenty of questions in the scientific community. Questions like: Did Wisdom have more than one mate? How did she manage to double the average lifespan? And: Do birds go through menopause?

We don't know if they have hot flashes but, since their bones are hollow, declining bone density isn't an issue. And raging hormones? Not so much. Over at Slate, Brian Palmer points out: "Many experts reserve the word "menopause" for human females, because it represents a variety of physiological changes-declining levels of certain hormones, anatomical alterations, and the cessation of observable menstrual cycling-that don't occur together in other creatures." That said, birds can, and do, run out of eggs. In some species, egg production speeds up as their life cycle ends-it could be nature's way of trying to ensure a few more healthy chicks.

Maybe Wisdom can chalk her longevity and robust reproductive system to the way that Laysan albatrosses seem to be programmed for equality. According to the National Audubon Society, the birds' elaborate courtship dances are performed by both sexes (Ahem. "Mutual preening" is involved.) and, after they agree on a mate (whom they stay with for life), both the male and the female build a nest together. The mates take turns incubating the egg for about 64 days and, once that egg hatches, one parent stays with the chick while the other forages for food-and then they switch roles.

Now that's phenomenal.