Humans aren’t even close to being the longest-living animals on Earth. The real longevity champions tend to live in water, often at great depths where conditions are extremely stable. Due to various factors, the average lifespan for humans has been increasing year by year. Currently, a full life translates to about 78.5 years, but that’s nothing to brag about when compared to the lifespans some other animal species can achieve. For example, a bird recently celebrated its 79th birthday, and a reptile became a father at the age of 111. Any questions? It turns out there are animals that are among the longest-lived on Earth, and not all of them are marine. Let’s explain who they are.
The Longest-Living Animals on Earth
These species, besides their undeniable natural beauty, have robust anatomies that help them face daily dangers, and they’ve even survived the significant impact of climate change, showing that “survival is a matter of adaptation.”
Blue Whale
Thanks to its low body temperature, this enormous mammal can live up to an astonishing 200 years.
Cockatoo
In captivity, these birds can live for 40 to 60 years. At the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, there’s one that arrived at the facility in 1934.
Giant Tortoise
For a human, reaching 100 years of life is quite a feat, but for tortoises, it’s no big deal, as that’s their average lifespan. Just last week, the last of its kind died in the Galápagos Islands at 115 years old.
Shearwater
This bird, on average, lives only 15 years, but one individual holds the Guinness World Record for being alive at 51 and for having flown more than 800 million kilometers.
Western Lowland Gorilla
Their average lifespan is 50 years, but in captivity, there’s one named Colo who reached 55 years in excellent health. Some of his keepers even died before the big primate.
Tuatara
This reptile is native to New Zealand and can live over 100 years. What’s the most surprising thing about this species? In 2009, a male tuatara was able to father a baby at the age of 111.
Asian Elephant
The average lifespan for the Asian elephant is 60 years, but there’s a record of one reaching the age of 86. It died in 2003 at the Taipei Zoo. During World War II, this elephant carried supplies to the Japanese army in the jungles of Myanmar.
This story was originally published in Spanish in Ecoosfera.