By NAMI SUGIURA/ Staff Writer
March 2, 2025 at 07:00 JST
This short-tailed albatross set a new longevity record not only for the species but also for all wild birds in Japan. (Photo by Satoshi Konno)
A new longevity record of 42 years and seven months has been established in Japan for the short-tailed albatross, a species once so rare it was deemed extinct.
The age of the bird was confirmed through a leg band as it nested on uninhabited Torishima island in the Izu island chain south of Tokyo last November, according to the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology which is leading conservation efforts for the species.
It beats the previous record by nearly five years and is also the oldest confirmed age for a wild bird in Japan, namely 36 years and eight months for a streaked shearwater, officials said.
The previous longevity record for a short-tailed albatross is 37 years and eight months.
The oldest known bird in the wild, a Laysan albatross on Midway Atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, is believed to be at least 74.
The short-tailed albatross has a wingspan of more than 2 meters and spends most of its life at sea.
The species used to number at least in the hundreds of thousands, according to conservative estimates. But hunting for their feathers in the 19th and 20th centuries brought numbers to the brink of extinction.
In fact, the species was considered extinct until 1951 when a colony of around 10 birds was rediscovered on Torishima.
As part of conservation efforts, it was decided in 1979 to attach leg bands on all chicks born on Torishima to help studies on how the species breeds.
Only 21 chicks were born in 1982.
But more than 1,000 chicks were counted on the island in 2023 because of preservation efforts that included creating more breeding grounds.
Naoki Tomita, a researcher with the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology who was responsible for the latest study, cited steady conservation activities efforts over decades for the increase in bird numbers and the longevity record.
The leg band on the bird in question showed it was tagged as a chick on March 24, 1982, the institute said.
It was found brooding over an egg at the Tsubamezaki breeding ground on Torishima.
The sex of the bird was not established.
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