What Land Animal Has The Longest Lifespan?
Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2012 by eNature
Aldabra giant tortoise
© Muhammad Mahdi Karim
If you’re a TV watcher, you may have noticed that the most recent
iteration of the long-running TV show Survivor recently got underway.
But there’s a much more interesting version playing out in the wild.
It’s one thing to survive a few weeks on a television show, but it’s
quite another to live 180 years and never be voted off the island!
The tale of the ultimate survivor begins in a world of 18th century
explorers, kidnappings, and tropical islands, when long-distance travel
was by ship and many lands were still uncharted. The secret to this
creature’s longevity may be in its philosophy: Slow and steady wins the
race.
The Real Survivor
By all accounts the longest-lived creatures on earth are turtles. It may
have something to do with the slowed-down lifestyle and perhaps the
protective armor. At any rate, tales abound of giant tortoises of the
Galapagos, Seychelles, Madagascar, and other islands that lived well
over 100 years.
Sailors were said to carve their names and dates into the shells of
these behemoths, providing something of a record of their lifespans. But
it is quite difficult to track the lifespan of a wild animal,
especially when the animal outlives the person keeping track!
What Creature Has Lived Longest?
The longest life of any tortoise of which there is an authenticated
record is that of Marion’s Tortoise, a Testudo gigantea. This giant
tortoise, along with four of its companions, was taken as an adult from
its native island in the Seychelles to Mauritius, where no tortoises
occur, by the French explorer Marion de Fresne in 1766. It lived there
for 152 years, until it died in 1918. Since it was a full-grown adult at
the time of its capture in 1766, its actual age may be estimated at not
less than 180 years and perhaps as much as 200 years.
Even the smaller members of the turtle order are known to be
long-lived. One Box Turtle, passed down as a family pet, is said to have
died at the ripe old age of 123. It was just one year older than the
the the person many consider the oldest human on record, a French woman
named Jeanne Louise Calment (1875 to 1997).
Winners All Around
Interestingly, turtles aren’t only the longest-lived individuals known,
they are the oldest type of living reptiles, vastly more ancient in
lineage than the fossil dinosaurs and most of the other extinct forms.
That makes them older than all mammals and birds, as well.
Surely they are doing something right. There may be more to the tale
of the tortoise and the hare (lifespan probably up to 8 or 10 years, if
lucky!) than race strategy!
Although their numbers are threatened by development, the Eastern Box
Turtle is common sight in the woods. Have you encountered any turtles—
in your yard or in your travels?
We always enjoy your stories!
reference : http://www.enature.com/home/indexNew.asp
