Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Some animals get the biological short end of the stick regarding longevity. Drone ants and houseflies are lucky to live past three to four weeks. And some mayfly species, also known as “one-day insects,” expire within 24 hours of reaching adulthood.
Fortunately, human beings enjoy much longer, fuller lives. But even our +70-year lifespans have nothing on clams, whales, sharks, and some fish. What’s more, a few rare organisms may even be immortal! Check out this amazing list of the longest-living animals on Earth.
On Aldabra Island, in the Seychelles northeast of Madagascar, you’ll find one of the world’s oldest living animals, the Aldabra tortoise. These reptiles can reach upwards of 550 pounds, and their longevity easily tops 150 years.
But under the right conditions, they can live much longer, as an estimated 190-year-old tortoise named Jonathan attests. Jonathan moved from the Seychelles to the island of Saint Helena in 1882, where he’s been going strong ever since.
Other long-lived land animals include chimpanzees and orangutans, which average 50 to 55 years in the wild and longer in captivity. Some feathered friends also lead extraordinarily long lives. A Laysan albatross named Wisdom is at least 71 years old, and Cookie, a pink cockatoo, reached an estimated 83 years before dying.
The only flightless parrot on Earth, kākāpōs are found in New Zealand, where they can live for up to 90 years. Another ancient New Zealander is the tuatara, boasting a 60-to-100-year lifespan. Although tuataras look like lizards, don’t be fooled. They occupy a one-of-a-kind scientific order, Rhynchocephalia.
But a sulfur-crested cockatoo called Cocky Bennett may have outdone even kākāpōs and tuataras. According to some, he reached 120 years before passing away at the Sea Breeze Hotel in Australia in 1916.
Despite their impressive numbers, far fewer land mammals reach three digits than their marine counterparts. It’s hard to know where to start with long-lived ocean fauna. That said, you can’t go wrong with red sea urchins. These spiky beauties live for 100 to 200 years off the American Northwest and Western Canadian coasts.
Bowhead whales also make a couple of centuries look easy. These residents of Arctic and sub-Arctic waters have even been found with stone harpoon tips embedded in their skin, dating to at least the 19th century! Rougheye rockfish take life slow and long, moving with the current for up to 200 years.
Bowhead Whale. Credit: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve Via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Whales and fish have nothing on a quahog clam dubbed Ming, though. This bivalve led his best life in the waters off Iceland before dredging and freezing cut his 507-year-long existence short. And Greenland sharks, which inhabit the Arctic and North Atlantic, can persist for three to five centuries.
Animals like corals have carbon-dated to at least 4,625 years old! If you’re wondering how corals make the list, bear this in mind. Although they look like plants, corals are made up of the exoskeletons of polyps, a type of invertebrate. Of course, this means their long lifespans are a collaborative effort. Does this disqualify them from the list? We’ll let you decide.
Close up of Glass sponge.
Like corals, sponges comprise colonies of animals. And they can enjoy a surprisingly lengthy stay on the planet, too. One species of glass sponge came in at 11,000 years old! Some scientists believe other species may live even longer.
If you assume longevity ends at 11,000 years, think again. Scientists have deemed some animals “immortal.” Nope, we’re not talking about werewolves or vampires. Creatures that have discovered a perpetual fountain of youth include Turritopsis dohrnii.
The name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Fortunately, it’s got an easier nickname, the “immortal jellyfish.” Found in the Mediterranean Sea, this jellyfish one ups Benjamin Button and then some. It has mastered the art of reversing its life cycle repeatedly. Under ideal conditions, this rinse-and-repeat life cycle shows no signs of stopping … ever. Sadly, most get noshed on by fish first.
Lobsters may also have the capacity to live forever. Scientists have debated this topic for years. Backing this theory is the case of a 140-year-old lobster caught off the Newfoundland Coast. Like the immortal jellyfish, lobsters prove too tasty for their own good, which has hampered further research.
Regenerating flatworms are another potential immortal animal capable of repairing damaged tissue indefinitely. And Deinococcus radiodurans, a radiation-resistant bacteria, has survived vacuums, acid, dehydration, and cold. Talk about the stuff of true crime! That said, bacteria aren’t technically animals, so consider D. radiodurans an honorable mention.
Tardigrade (water bear) microscope magnification.
Finally, we can’t forget about the adorable, enduring tardigrade. Also known as water bears, these microscopic organisms can enter a state of cryptobiosis. This stops their metabolism indefinitely, allowing them to exist for thousands of years under insane conditions. No wonder they hold the title of the most indestructible species on the planet!
By Engrid Barnett, contributor for Ripleys.com
