Which is the longest living bird on earth?
The question of the longest lived bird on earth is one that has titillated the curiosity of many ever since Bacon recognised that birds are much longer-lived than similar-sized mammals in the seventeenth century. The trend Bacon found is actually much stronger than he recognised because birds in the tropics, Australia and Southern Africa are much longer-lived than birds of the Enriched World (temperate Eurasia, North America, New Zealand and southern South America). The exact identity of the longest-lived bird species is unclear. Large raptors (such as vultures), cockatoos and ground hornbills can probably live as long as most humans and a study of the Southern Ground Hornbill suggests its average lifespan in the wild is around thirty years. Parrots damage most bands so that longevity records in the wild are difficult to estimate, and few usable data exist from large raptors. Seabirds, as a group, are noted for their longevity, with estimated average lifespans of even the tiny storm petrels being around eleven years. It is estimated that the average lifespan of a Wandering Albatross is around thirty-five to forty years, though because of this exact results from banding studies will take a long time to see whether they can live longer than the Cacatuidae or Bucorvidae.