# Long-living animals



## Daniel (Apr 29, 2010)

Long-living animals:


The Hydrozoan  species _Turritopsis nutricula_ is capable  of cycling from a mature adult stage to an immature polyp stage  and back again. This means that there may be no natural limit to its  life span.However, no single specimen has been observed for any extended period,  and it is impossible to estimate the age of a specimen.
The Antarctic sponge _Cinachyra  antarctica_ has an extremely slow growth rate in the low  temperatures of the Southern Ocean. One specimen has been estimated to be 1,550  years old.
A specimen of the Icelandic Cyprine _Arctica islandica_ (also known as an ocean quahog), a mollusk, was found to have lived 405 years and  possibly up to 410.  Another specimen had a recorded life span of 374 years.
Some koi fish have reportedly lived more than  200 years, the oldest being Hanako, died at an age of 226 years  on July 7, 1977.
Some confirmed sources estimated Bowhead Whales to have lived at least to 211  years of age, making them the oldest mammals.
Specimens of the Red Sea Urchin, _Strongylocentrotus  franciscanus_, have been found to be over 200 years old.
Adwaita,  a Aldabra Giant Tortoise died at the  (possible) age of 250 in March 2006.
Tu'i Malila, a Radiated tortoise, died at an age of  188 years in May 1965, the oldest verified vertebrate.
Harriet, a Gal?pagos tortoise, died at the age of  175 years in June 2006.
The deep-sea hydrocarbon seep tubeworm _Lamellibrachia luymesi_ (Annelida, Polychaeta) lives for over 170 years.
Timothy, a Greek Tortoise, died at an age of 160  years in April 2004.
Geoduck,  a species of saltwater clam native to the Puget  Sound, have been known to live over 160 years.
George the lobster  was estimated to be approximately 140 years old in January 2009.
Jeanne Calment was the oldest human  to have verifiable birth records. She was 122 years old at time of  death.
The tuatara  can live well above 100 years. Henry, a tuatara  at the Southland Museum in New Zealand, mated for the first time at the  age of 110 years in 2009 with an 80-year-old female and fathered 11 baby  tuataras.
A female Blue-and-yellow Macaw named Charlie was reportedly hatched in 1899, which would make  her 110 years old, as of 2009. Her age has not been independently  confirmed and the claim may not be reliable. She is claimed to have  formerly belonged to Winston Churchill, but Churchill's daughter denies the  claim.
Cookie, a Major Mitchell's Cockatoo resident  at Brookfield Zoo, Illinois, USA is the oldest member of his species in  captivity, at a verified age of 76, as of 2010.
 _Source: _List of long-living organisms - Wikipedia


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## Daniel (Apr 29, 2010)

> Some confirmed sources estimated Bowhead  Whales to have lived at least to 211  years of age, making them the  oldest mammals.


Regarding the possibly longest-living species of mammals:

Bowhead Whales
YouTube - Bowhead Whale Song


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## David Baxter PhD (Apr 29, 2010)

> The Antarctic sponge _Cinachyra antarctica_ has an extremely slow growth rate in the low temperatures of the Southern Ocean. One specimen has been estimated to be 1,550 years old.


 
I've got a sponge almost that old in the trunk of my car.


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## Banned (Apr 29, 2010)

I'm not sure I'd *want* to live as long as some of these animals do.  I mean, for one thing, how on earth are you supposed to keep up with technology??


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## David Baxter PhD (Apr 29, 2010)

I don't think sponges use a lot of technology.


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## Banned (Apr 29, 2010)

Maybe not sponges, but look at poor E.T. who tried to phone home.  I bet he was an old dude...


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## David Baxter PhD (Apr 29, 2010)

Uh, sorry... ET was a baby.


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## Banned (Apr 29, 2010)

That's what they'd have you common folk believe, but I have inside information that says otherwise...


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