奇速英语

A 65-year old albatross(信天翁) named Wisdom has become the oldest known bird to give birth to a chick(雏鸟).

Wisdom was marked by Chandler Robbins in 1956 for research. Her life and breeding(繁殖) activities have been followed by scientists ever since. She is thought to have flown over 3 million miles since she was first marked. “That is up to six trips from the Earth to the Moon and back again,” says Bruce Peterjohn, one of the scientists.

Albatrosses are known for their ability(能力) to fly continuously for hundreds of miles. They can even sleep while flying! Unluckily, many albatrosses are endangered. The number of albatrosses has gone down dramatically because of fishermen; they often die quickly by getting caught on fishermen’s hooks(鱼钩). There were around 940,000 breeding albatrosses at the Midway Atoll.

Most albatrosses die long before 65 years old; and until now, scientists thought that females became unable to give birth at around 30 years old. Wisdom has taught researchers that this is clearly not the case by giving birth to her 40th chick. The chick at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge has been named Kūkini, which means “messenger” in their Hawaiian language.