How Long Do Albatrosses Live? Wisdom and Other Records

Typical albatross lifespans

Lifespans vary between the 20 or so albatross species, but all are long-lived compared with most birds. In the wild, scientists measure age by putting numbered metal bands (rings) on birds’ legs and checking them year after year.

Adult albatrosses have a very high survival rate. In the wandering albatross, only about 5–8% of adults die in an average year, so a bird that survives its risky first years has a good chance of living for decades. Young birds are far more vulnerable: in wandering albatrosses, only about a third of fledglings are thought to survive to adulthood.

Wisdom: the oldest known wild bird

Wisdom is a Laysan albatross that nests at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the North Pacific. In 1956, U.S. Geological Survey scientist Chandler Robbins put band number Z333 on her leg. Laysan albatrosses do not breed before about five years old, so she was already at least five, which means she hatched around 1951 or earlier.

Her story became famous because she kept coming back:

• Biologists replaced her worn leg band several times over the decades.
• She survived the 2011 tsunami that swept across Midway, killing an estimated 110,000 albatross chicks and about 2,000 adults.
• She hatched a chick at about 66 years old in 2016, and continued breeding in later seasons.
• In late 2024, at an age of at least 74, she laid another egg with a new mate, the oldest bird known to do so. The chick hatched in early 2025.
• She was seen back at Midway in late 2025, apparently healthy.

Biologists estimate that Wisdom has laid about 30 to 40 eggs over her life and flown several million kilometers. Her long-time mate, Akeakamai, stopped returning after about 2021, and she paired with a new partner in 2024. Her long record shows how much a single long-lived seabird can contribute to its colony.

Other famous long-lived albatrosses

Before Wisdom, the best-known old albatross was “Grandma”, a northern royal albatross at the Taiaroa Head colony near Dunedin, New Zealand. She was first banded as a breeding adult in 1937 and was last seen around 1989, so she lived to at least about 60 years old.

In the Southern Ocean, long-term banding studies of wandering albatrosses on South Georgia and the Crozet Islands, running since the 1950s and 1960s, have recorded birds still breeding in their 40s and beyond 50 years of age. These studies also show that very old albatrosses can still breed successfully, though some become less reliable as parents in their final years.

Why albatrosses live so long and breed so slowly

Albatrosses follow a “slow” life strategy. They:

• Start breeding late, rarely before 5 years old and often not until 8 to 12 or later, depending on species.
• Lay only one egg per breeding attempt, and never replace a lost egg in the same season.
• Raise chicks very slowly. A wandering albatross chick stays on the nest for about nine months, so successful pairs breed only every second year. Laysan albatrosses can breed every year but often skip seasons.
• Stay with the same mate for many years, which improves their teamwork as parents.

A bird with this kind of life needs a long lifespan to leave enough offspring. Natural selection has favored strong survival in adults: albatrosses have few predators at sea, and their energy-saving soaring flight, described in How long can albatrosses stay at sea?, causes little wear and tear. Studies of wild albatrosses suggest they show signs of aging only slowly.

What shortens albatross lives?

Most albatrosses do not reach record ages. The main dangers are caused by people:

• Fishing bycatch. Albatrosses grab baited hooks on longlines and get dragged underwater and drowned. Trawl cables can also kill them.
• Plastic. Laysan albatross parents on Midway pick up floating plastic and feed it to their chicks by mistake, and many dead chicks are found with stomachs full of plastic.
• Introduced predators. Mice, rats and cats brought to some islands attack eggs and chicks, and mice have even been seen attacking adult birds on a few islands.
• Climate change and storms, which can flood low-lying nesting islands such as Midway.

Because albatrosses breed so slowly, the loss of breeding adults has a big effect on populations. Most albatross species are listed as threatened or near threatened by the IUCN, including the Vulnerable wandering albatross. The Laysan albatross itself is listed as Near Threatened.

Long partnerships are part of the albatross way of life, which is why they feature among animals that mate for life.