Who is the longest-living record holder among mammals? Animals are long-lived. Red sea urchins
The jellyfish Turritopsis nutricula is considered the only immortal creature on Earth; it lives in tropical waters. As scientists have proven, such jellyfish do not die of old age; when they reach a certain age, they begin to “get younger” - they return to their original stage. And from the stage of a young individual, it begins to develop again. Thus, the creature can live an infinite number of cycles. Such jellyfish die, most often due to predators or disease.
The Antarctic sponge holds the record for longest lifespan of its species. The creature lives in cold arctic waters. Every year the sponge grows by 0.2 mm, while it lives at a depth of about 200 m, where almost no sunlight penetrates. By reducing the metabolic process, the Antarctic sponge can live from 5 to 15 thousand years.
The place of the longest-living animal is occupied by the mollusk Arctica islandica, an inhabitant of the waters of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. The maximum age of the mollusk found by scientists exceeded 500 years. The age of the creature was determined using sclerochronology - based on rings with inside shells. The oldest mollusk found was named Ming, in honor of the dynasty of Chinese emperors, for whom it was a contemporary.
The life expectancy of this mammal is from 40 to 210 years. Among vertebrates, this life expectancy is a record. Previously, the Eskimos hunted bowhead whales off the coast of Alaska, so the animals moved to Greenland. The color of whales is black, sometimes with a white throat. The length of an adult individual is about 21 m, and its weight is 150 tons, which is a lot. Only larger than the Bowhead whale Blue whale, the length of which can reach 33 meters.
Hatteria lives on the small islands of New Zealand. This little animal only leads night look life. The lizard lives for about 100-200 years, reaching a length of 76 cm. The animal also represents the beaked heads, and is the only living representative of this order today. Externally, the reptile resembles a large iguana. The lizard is distinguished by the presence of a “third eye” on the crown of the head, although in an adult it is overgrown with scales.
Elephant turtles are the largest land turtles, are inhabitants of the islands of the Galapagos archipelago. Mariners caught and consumed the meat of these animals, and therefore, now this species has practically disappeared in nature. IN wildlife turtles live about 100 years, caught animals lived in captivity up to 170 years. The weight of animals can exceed 200 kg. This turtle has a long neck and a relatively small head.
The polar shark, belonging to the Somniosa family, is an inhabitant of the waters of the North Atlantic. Peculiarity Greenland shark- this is its habitat, this predator can live in water with a temperature of 7 to -2 degrees. This is very strange, since most sharks are thermophilic. The animal lives 100-200 years, which is the longest for sharks. This creature is not picky about food and feeds on any living creature.
The age of the oldest found mollusk of this species was 160 years, while the average lifespan of this creature was 140 years. This exquisite delicacy lives in the USA and Canada. Such a long life expectancy of this trunk-like creature is due to the absence of enemies in the animal world and a not very intense metabolism.
Koi carps are small ornamental domesticated fish. The oldest fish of the koi carp species died at the age of 226 years; on average, these fish live 70-100 years. The homeland of this subspecies of common carp is China, but this fish has gained greater popularity in Japan, where they are intensively grown. At first, koi carps were eaten as food, and later they began to be kept at home as ornamental fish.
Last on the list of the longest-living animals is Asian elephant. These elephants live in Pakistan, India, Laos, Nepal and Thailand. This mammal is the second largest among elephants. The animal grows up to 3.5 m and reaches a weight of 5 tons. Adults have no enemies in nature, besides people, who have long used Indian elephants as labor. In the wild, elephants live 60-70 years; domesticated animals in a comfortable environment live up to 80 years.
The longest living animals Video
We humans are proud of our long (and increasingly longer) lives, but amazing fact is that in terms of longevity Homo sapiens significantly inferior to some other representatives, including sharks, whales and even or. In this article you will learn about the 11 longest-living representatives of various species in order of increasing life expectancy.
The longest living insect is the queen termite (50 years)
People usually think that insects only live for a few days or weeks, but when you're especially important, all the rules break down. Regardless of the species, a termite colony is ruled by a king and queen. Once inseminated by a male, the queen slowly increases her egg production, starting with a few dozen eggs and eventually reaching a target of about 25,000 eggs per day (not all of these eggs mature, of course). Far from becoming predators' dinner, termite queens have been known to reach 50 years of age, and termite kings (who spend almost their entire lives locked in the mating chamber with their fertile queens) also have relatively long lives. As for the simple worker termites that make up the bulk of the colony, they live a maximum of one to two years. This is the fate of an ordinary slave.
The longest living fish is koi carp (50 years)
In the wild, fish rarely live longer than a few years, and even aquarium fish gold fish requires good care to reach a decade. But many fish in the world would envy the colorful koi carp popular in Japan and other parts of the world, including the United States. Like other representatives of cyprinids, they can withstand a wide variety of conditions environment, although (especially given their bright colors that people like) they are not particularly well camouflaged for protection from predators. Individual koi are thought to live for over 200 years, but the most widely accepted estimate among scientists is 50 years, which is much longer than the average koi in your aquarium.
The longest living bird is the macaw (100 years)
These colorful parrots are capable of reproducing throughout their lives, with females incubating eggs and caring for chicks while males forage for food. With a lifespan of up to 60 years in the wild and up to 100 years in captivity, macaws are almost as long as humans. Ironically, although these birds can live a very long time, many species are endangered due to people's desire to keep them as pets and deforestation. The longevity of macaws and other members of the parrot family begs the question: Since birds evolved from dinosaurs, and since we know that many dinosaurs were just as small and colorful, could some of these prehistoric reptiles have reached the age of a century?
The longest living amphibian is the European proteus (100 years)
If you were asked to name animals that regularly reach the century mark, the blind amphibian is the European proteus ( Proteus anguinus) will probably be last on your list: how can a frail, eyeless, cave-dwelling, 30cm amphibian survive for even a couple of weeks in the wild? Naturalists attribute the longevity of the European Proteus to its unusually slow metabolism. These amphibians reach sexual maturity only at 15 years, and also lay eggs no more than once every 12 years. They hardly move except when searching for food. Moreover, in damp caves Southern Europe, where the European proteus lives, there are practically no predators, which allows it to live up to 100 years in the wild. For comparison, Japanese giant salamander, which comes second on the list of long-lived amphibians, rarely surpasses the 50-year mark.
The longest living primate is humans (100 years)
Humans often live to be 100 years or more, making us the record holders for the longest life expectancy among primates. There are about half a million people in the world who are about 100 years old. Tens of thousands of years ago Homo sapiens was considered elderly if he lived to be 20-30 years old, and until the 18th century the average life expectancy rarely exceeded 50 years. The main culprits were high infant mortality and susceptibility to fatal diseases. However, at any stage of human history, if you managed to survive in early childhood and adolescence, your chances of living to 50, 60 or even 70 increased significantly. To what can we attribute this amazing increase in longevity? Well, in a word, civilization, especially sanitation, medicine, nutrition and cooperation (during ice age a tribe of people most likely left their elderly relatives to starve in the cold, and today we are making special efforts to take care of our octogenarian relatives.)
The longest living mammal is the bowhead whale (200 years)
As a rule, more large mammals have a relatively long lifespan, but even by this standard, bowhead whales are far ahead, often exceeding the 200-year mark. IN Lately Analysis of the bowhead whale genome has shed some light on this mystery: it turns out that these whales have unique genes that help with DNA repair and resistance to mutations (and therefore cancer). Because the bowhead whale lives in arctic and subarctic waters, its relatively slow metabolism may also have something to do with its longevity. Today, there are approximately 25,000 bowhead whales in the northern hemisphere, a positive population recovery trend since 1966, when major efforts were made to international efforts to deter whalers.
The longest living reptile is the giant tortoise (300 years)
Giant turtles The Galapagos and Seychelles islands are classic examples of "island gigantism" - the tendency of animals confined to island habitats and without natural predators to grow to unusually large sizes. large sizes. And these turtles have a lifespan that perfectly matches their weight, ranging from 200 to 500 kg. Giant tortoises are known to live longer than 200 years, and there is every reason to believe that in the wild they regularly surpass the 300-year mark. Like some of the other animals on this list, the reasons for the longevity of giant tortoises are obvious: these reptiles move very slowly, their basal metabolism is extremely low, and life stages, as a rule, are relatively extended (for example, the Aldabra giant tortoise reaches sexual maturity only at 30 years of age).
The longest living shark is the Greenland shark (400 years)
If there was justice in the world, the Greenland shark would be as famous as the big one. White shark: It is also large (some adults exceed 1000 kg) and much more exotic given its northern Arctic habitat. You might think the Greenland shark is as dangerous as a jaw star, but while a hungry white shark will bite you in half, the Grenadian shark is relatively harmless to humans. However, the most remarkable fact relative to the Greenland shark, is its lifespan of more than 400 years. This longevity is explained by the cold habitat and very low metabolism. Surprisingly, these sharks reach sexual maturity after 100 years, despite the fact that most others at that age are not only sexually inactive, but are long dead!
The longest living mollusk is the Icelandic cyprina ( Arctica islandica) (500 years)
A 500-year-old clam sounds like a joke since most clams are practically motionless, so how can you tell with certainty whether it is alive or not? However, there are scientists who study such things, and they have determined that Cyprina Icelandica ( Arctica islandica) can literally live for centuries, as evidenced by one specimen that passed the 500-year mark (you can tell the age of a clam by counting the growth rings on its shell). Ironically, cyprina is also a popular food in some parts of the world, meaning that most shellfish will never be able to celebrate their 500th anniversary. Biologists have yet to figure out why Arctica islandica live so long, but one reason may be the relatively stable levels of antioxidants that prevent the damage responsible for most signs of aging in animals.
The longest-living microorganisms are endoliths (10,000 years)
Determining the lifespan of microorganisms is a rather complex process. In a sense, all bacteria are immortal because they spread their genetic information by constantly dividing (rather than, like most higher animals, by having sex). The term "endoliths" refers to algae, or algae, that live deep underground in crevices rocks, corals and animal shells. Research has shown that some individuals from endolith colonies undergo cell division only once every hundred years, and their life expectancy reaches 10,000 years. Technically, this is different from the ability of some microorganisms to revive after stagnation or deep freezing after tens of thousands of years. Endoliths are literally constantly “alive”, although not very active. They are autotrophic organisms that carry out metabolism not with the help of oxygen or sunlight, and using inorganic chemical substances, which are practically inexhaustible in their habitats.
The longest living invertebrate is Turritopsis dohrnii (potentially immortal)
There is no reliable way determine how many years the average jellyfish lives. These are so fragile that they do not lend themselves to intensive research in laboratories. However, no ranking of long-lived animals would be complete without mentioning Turritopsis dohrnii- a species of jellyfish that is capable of reverting to the polyp stage after reaching sexual maturity, making them potentially immortal. However, it is almost incredible that any individual T. dohrnii could live for millions of years. Biological "immortality" doesn't mean you won't be eaten or killed by other animals sudden changes environmental conditions. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to keep jellyfish T. dohrnii in captivity, a feat that has so far only been accomplished by one scientist working in Japan.
Birth, growing up, aging... This usual move of things. Some representatives of the flora, however, can boast of a very long life. In captivity, many animals can easily outlive their wild counterparts, while others are great at whileing away their lives in natural environment. And if a person lives on average 70 years, then other species can boast of much more time allotted to their existence. What types of centenarians are these? Let's try to figure it out. Here is a rating of 25 representatives of the living world who are setting a record for the number of years lived.
Hatteria in a terrariumThis species of lizard lives only in New Zealand. The population is growing extremely slowly, so hatteria may soon become extinct. On average, individuals live 60–70 years, but some individuals can reach 200 years of age.
Domestic cat
Scooter was born in 1986. Now, as you might guess, he is 31 years old. A representative of the Siamese breed is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest living cat. Second place a pet, who turned 26 years old.
Dog
Bluey with his owner The oldest individual, Bluey, a male Australian Cattle Dog, lived to be 26 years old. On average, dogs live from 7 to 15 years.
Human
The old lady has a positive character and good disposition Previously, the oldest person living on Earth was Emma Morano, but she died at the age of 117 years and 137 days. Now the list of living centenarians is headed by Nabi Tajima (Japan). She was born on August 4, 1900.
Shein and his owner's daughter Shane, a 51-year-old horse, lives in Essex, UK. As his owner says, everyone in Shane’s family was long-lived. Despite the fact that the horse suffers from arthritis, his health is enviable.
Larry at the aquarium The lobster, named Larry, was captured in 2016 and placed in the Maine Aquarium. Scientists were able to find out that the age of the crustacean was 110 years.
Bowhead whale specimen Not long ago, a whale was caught near Alaska with harpoon marks on its neck dating back to 1880. That is, by that time the whale was already old enough to survive the attack of the whalers. He witnessed Civil War in USA. Oceanologists believe that some individuals can live longer than 200 years.
Flavio, the long-lived tiger The oldest tiger lives at the Florida Zoo. He used to be a circus animal, but conservationists managed to save him. The big cat's name is Flavio. This year he turned 26 years old.
Koi Hanako shortly before his death A koi named Hanako was the largest carp in Japan. She lived to be 226 years old. The strange thing is that no carp before her had lived so long. Koi usually live for 50 years. Scientists have never been able to solve the mystery of Hanako.
Shark in wild conditions This type of shark can be safely called a long-liver. One shark caught lived more than 400 years. Perhaps the genes of the polar predator contain a gene for longevity, which is so necessary for humanity.
Tish, the oldest goldfish The oldest goldfish is 43 years old. Her name is Tish.
Elephant heroes and Japanese military The oldest elephant is one that lived in the Taipei Zoo, Taiwan, before the war. During the fighting, he helped Japanese soldiers transport valuable cargo. He was captured by Chinese troops in 1943, where he was executed at the age of 86. On average, Indian elephants live no more than 50 years.
Arjun on vacation Arjun is the oldest living lion in captivity. He is 26 years old. Most members of his species live to be 16 years old.
Jonathan at the beginning of the twentieth century Jonathan, herself old turtle, is now 186 years old. His house - Seychelles. Many scientists believe that this species of turtle can easily live up to 200 years.
Bear No. 59 a few months before his death The oldest wild bear died in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, aged 39. As the sensor showed, clubfoot number 59 died of old age.
Puan, a long-lived primate In the Perth Zoo (Australia), there lives an orangutan named Puan. He turned 60 years old.
Muja after lunch Muja is the oldest alligator. He even survived the bombing of Belgrade during World War II. The exact age of the reptile is unknown, but scientists are inclined to figure 80.
80 year old bird The oldest representative of the species is now 83 years old and lives at Adelaide Zoo.
Shell of Ming, the oldest mollusk This bivalve was born in 1499 and died in 2006. Bangor University staff still cannot find an explanation for this phenomenon. Regular flying fox from Southern Siberia
The oldest representative of the species was found in Siberia. At the time of the discovery, she was 41 years old, which is almost 10 times higher than normal.
Granny on the hunt "Granny" or J2 is a female killer whale who is over 100 years old.
An individual of the species Turritopsis dohrnii The species Turritopsis dohrnii may reveal to us the secret of immortality. Individuals of this species reproduce using eggs, but in critical conditions They simply rejuvenate their cells. Theoretically, jellyfish can live for several thousand years.
Unnamed long-lived frog The oldest frog lives in the New Zealand Zoo. She is 37 years old. Most of her relatives do not live to be 13 years old.
Little Mom with Christmas gifts The oldest representative of the species is considered to be a chimpanzee named “Little Mama”. She is 74 years old. She lives in Palm Beach. Its relatives usually live up to 50 years.
Our planet is still full of blank spots and unknown species, so we can imagine that new discoveries of long-lived animals await us that can help us humans live much longer. After all, this is what humanity has been striving for since the beginning of time, right?
Did you know what long-lived animals exist on our vast planet?
Just imagine that some animals belonging to this category can not only outlive humans, but also entire civilizations. To some, all this may seem incredible and surprising, but in reality it is so. In this article we will not discuss kangaroos. We are talking about animals that live much longer.
These interesting living creatures, worthy of your attention, live exclusively in Pacific Ocean usually on the west coast of North America. Reds live at a depth of about ninety meters and try to avoid turbulent places where there is frequent wave formation. These animals prefer to live in one place at the very bottom of the ocean.
They attach to the bottom and extract their food from the water by filtering. That's exactly how the red ones sea urchins live for several centuries. The life of a red sea urchin may be boring, but it is not short. Scientists say that red sea urchins are practically immortal. They may die from disease or as a result of predators, but they do not show signs of aging. It is also noteworthy that a hundred-year-old sea urchin has exactly the same chance of producing offspring as a ten-year-old.
Turtles are considered one of the longest-living living organisms on Earth. Take Harriet the turtle, for example. This galapagos tortoise, who died in June 2006 from heart failure.
She lived almost her entire life at the zoo. The most amazing thing is that Harriet was brought to Europe by Charles Darwin himself, who at that time was traveling on the Beagle ship. It should be noted that this turtle outlived many more world-famous scientists. She died at the age of 250.
In terms of life expectancy, humans are inferior to many representatives of the animal world. Some species of mollusks live the longest; whales, fish and turtles are also included in our ranking of long-livers.
1. Bivalve species Arctica islandica
Today, these mollusks are considered the longest-living animals on Earth. Studies of the shells of several mollusks conducted in 2006-2007 at Bangor University in Wales showed their maximum age - more than 500 years. The oldest specimen, named Ming, was 507 years old.
2. Giant turtle
Giant tortoises are land reptiles, endemic to Aldabra Island (Seychelles). These turtles are one of the longest living animals on Earth. In captivity they live on average up to 150 years.
The record holder for age among known to science The largest turtle in the world was a 250-kilogram turtle named Advaita (Sanskrit for “the only one”), who lived in the Calcutta Zoo. At the time of her death she was 256 years old.
Turtles are not only long-livers, but also one of the most ancient animals. Turtle fossils are over 220 million years old. The question of their origin is still considered debatable. Most scientists assume that the turtle predecessors were Permian cotylosaurs.
3. Koi carp
Koi carp are also called brocade carp. This is a domesticated ornamental subspecies of common carp. Koi carp can be considered a fish that has gone through 6 selective selections. After all stages of selection, she is assigned a certain category. There are more than 80 koi breeds in total, they are divided into 16 groups.
The world learned about the longevity of koi in 1966. During a radio appearance, Japanese doctor Komei Koshihara told the story of the Hanako carp. When Komei was born, beautiful fish already lived in a small pond near his house. Years passed, the boy went to study. Every time he returned home, a large 70-centimeter fish was still swimming in the pond. Koshihara asked his grandmother how long Hanako had been living here. According to the grandmother, the fish was at least 100 years old.
As an adult, Komei Koshihara decided to find out Hanako's age. He asked his friend Masayuki Amano, who worked at a fish farming station, to help with this. Analysis of Hanako's scales showed that Hanako is the oldest carp known to science. At the time of verification he was 217 years old. The fish died in 1977 at the age of 226 years.
4. European pearl mussel
The European pearl mussel is currently on the verge of extinction. Previously, these mollusks were fished for mother-of-pearl, but today this has become unprofitable.
The fact that the pearl mussel can be of great interest to gerontologists became known only in 2000, when the Russian researcher Valery Zyuganov established: the pearl mussel, which lives in Europe and North America, lives 210-250 years, and is the record holder for longevity among all known freshwater invertebrate animals.
Pearl mussels are characterized by the phenomenon of negligible aging, that is, the rate of their aging is difficult to statistically distinguish from zero within a single sample. Also called negligible aging is the phenomenon of “non-aging” - the lack of correlation between age and the probability of death.
Interestingly, the phenomenon of neglected aging is also observed in people who live to be 90-100 years old. After reaching this age, their chance of surviving until each subsequent year does not decrease with age. It was also noticed that all people who lived to these years are genetically similar to each other
5. Red sea urchin
Sea urchins are amazing creatures. These are the most “many-legged” representatives of the animal world. Moreover, they use their numerous needles as legs, the number of which can reach up to a thousand. In addition, sea urchins have a spiral-shaped intestine and an organ unique in its structure - the Aristotelian lantern, consisting of five pyramidal outgrowths, shaped like drills. Inside each outgrowth there is a sharp tooth.
Sea urchins are one of the most ancient creatures on Earth. They lived on the planet back in Paleozoic times. IN early XIX For centuries, scientists believed that sea urchins do not live long - about 15 years, but recent studies of sea urchins provide amazing results. It turns out that red sea urchins can grow and develop throughout their lives without showing signs of aging. These creatures live for more than 200 years. And it’s unclear how long they could have lived if they hadn’t had it in the ocean natural enemies, from which hedgehogs have to run away on their thorns.
6. Clam Guidak
The Guidak mollusk looks rather strange. It consists of a small shell relative to the size of the body and two long fused siphons, which can reach one meter in length. "Guidak" is translated from the Indian language as "digging deep." This is the largest burrowing mollusk in the world, so this name is quite justified.
Guidaks are long-lived. Average duration their life is 146 years, but scientists also found a 160-year-old individual. Guidaks have almost no natural enemies in nature; in addition, they have a slow metabolism, which ensures Guidaks' longevity. Damage to the mollusk can be caused by sharks and sea otters, as well as by humans - the meat of geoducks is eaten in China and Japan.
Mollusks reproduce by external fertilization. For my more than hundred year life female Guidaks release about five billion eggs.
We couldn’t do without whales in our rating. Whales are the largest animals on our planet and yes, they are long-lived. The bowhead whale is the longest living vertebrate. The average lifespan of mammals of this species is not so long - 40 years, but some representatives live more than 200 years.
Whales are also interesting because they develop, grow and reproduce throughout their lives, and the intensity of these processes does not weaken with age. Whales are of interest to gerontologists because even the oldest whales show no signs of aging when studied. That is, whales, like some other animals (such as, for example, mole rats) do not become decrepit.
There is still no exact answer as to why whales die. Interestingly, the age of a whale can be determined by the protein content in the lens of the eye. Its turbidity is the only indicator of whale aging. Scientist Vladimir Skulachev, who has been involved in gerontology for many years, believes that it is possible that whales go blind and then simply crash.