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title: "Wisdom, the septuagenarian Laysan Albatross, is not breeding this season"
---

# Wisdom, the septuagenarian Laysan Albatross, is not breeding this season

*![Wisdom and mate EX25 Nov 2025 Dan Rapp](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/L/Wisdom_and_mate_EX25_Nov_2025_Dan_Rapp.jpg)  
Wisdom (Z333, right) with her current mate red EX25 in November 2025, photograph by Dan Rapp*

 US Fish & Wildlife Service staff based on Midway Atoll have confirmed that Wisdom, the world’s oldest known Laysan Albatross *Phoebastria immutabilis*, now in her mid-seventies, did not lay an egg in the 2025/26 breeding season,  The septuagenarian has been visiting the atoll intermittently during the current season, including a visit in late December, and has met up with her most recent mate, colour banded red EX25 ([click here](https://www.acap.aq/latest-news/wisdom-is-back?highlight=WyJ3aXNkb20iLCJ3aXNkb20ncyIsMjAyNV0=)).

 “It’s important to note that Laysan albatrosses commonly skip breeding every 2–3 years, so this pause is a normal part of their life history—not a sign that Wisdom’s remarkable parenting story has come to an end” (information from the Facebook page of the [Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge](https://www.facebook.com/FriendsofMidwayNWR?__cft__%5b0%5d=AZaAXuL0aeP5sbF2cCx35h2nzncH-RMIH8PfTsg_y2Mt3nSh-Pn2hnuJ73bvBuZyzgALMJ_diuczOrPYD8lQS38sFb6Qutu5dqpXMJDt_fpBsxiSmXbjXMsJ_FVO6xnbPztk0odQE9-7-Aoed0-vJ0I1RoLEdHF2NfbGZiWxNQhsISvKSGStvpv0mIixzf6B_7ONYJCiXlzEu-u5tDYi4oF0JpUWy0N9slkcFDtd2IV92Q&__tn__=-UC*F)).

 Read more about Wisdom in [numerous articles](https://www.acap.aq/search?q=Wisdom&Search=&w1=before&d1=&w2=before&d2=) posted to *ACAP Latest News* over the last decade or so.

 *John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses* *and Petrels, 09 January 2026*