An estimated 2,000 adult albatrosses and 20 percent of their newborn hatchlings nesting on a Pacific island did not survive a 5-foot tidal wave unleashed by the earthquake that hit March 11 off the coast of Japan.
But Wisdom was not a casualty — the 60-year-old albatross ranked as the oldest living wild bird known to U.S. biologists, named by the Scientists who were thrilled to spot her alive a week later.
Those tallies represent a small fraction of the overall population of 1 million Laysan albatross.
(READ the story at MSNBC)