Science

The longest-living animals on Earth

Save Read AloudShare
Print

Giant tortoises are some of the longest-living land animals — but many sea creatures can live even longer. Photo:
Staffan Widstrand/Getty Images
By Future plc, adapted by Newsela staff
Published:08/25/2021
Word Count:1077

Most people can expect to live around 80 years, but that is a drop in the bucket compared to how
long some animals can live. In fact, some can stop or reverse aging altogether. Here are 10 of the
longest-living animals in the world today.

1. Bowhead Whale: Potentially 200+ Years Old

Image 1. Photo: wildest animal/Getty Images

Living in the cold waters of the Arctic, bowhead whales are the longest-living mammals. These
whales have been found with old harpoon tips in their blubber. These types of harpoons hadn't been
used for at least 100 years, so the whales were older than that. In fact, these whales may live 200
years or more.

Scientists have found important differences in the bowhead whale's genes compared to other
mammals. They think they play a role in why whales live so long. Genes are inside cells. They control
the way cells act. Cells are the basic building blocks of all living things. Genes are made of DNA,
which contains the instructions that determine how a living thing grows and develops.

Some differences the scientists found are in genes linked with repairing cells and DNA. Cells get old
and damaged. Being better able to repair cells could slow the whale's aging process. Repairing
damaged DNA may help protect the whale from the disease called cancer. Damaged DNA inside cells
can cause them to become cancer cells. These cells start to grow out of control and may lead to death.
Bowheads appear to be resistant to cancer.
2. Rougheye Rockfish: 200+ Years Old

Image 2. Photo: Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Rougheye rockfish are one of the longest-living fish. They can live at least 205 years. These fish live
in the Pacific Ocean. They grow up to 97 centimeters (38 inches) long and eat other animals such as
shrimp and smaller fish.

3. Freshwater Pearl Mussel: 250+ Years Old

Image 3. Photo: Joel Berglund/Wikimedia Commons

Freshwater pearl mussels are a type of shellfish. These soft-bodied animals eat by filtering particles
of food from water. They mainly live in rivers and streams and can be found in Europe and North
America. The oldest known freshwater pearl mussel was 280 years old. Their long lifespans are
thought to be due to their low metabolism. This is the chemical process that takes place in living
things to keep them alive. Metabolism is how the food they eat turns into energy that keeps their
bodies working. The mussels don't need to use as much energy to live and grow compared to other
animals.

4. Greenland Shark: 272+ Years Old

Image 4. Photo: Franco Banfi/Science Source

Greenland sharks live deep in the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans. They can grow to be 7.3 meters
(24 feet) long. They eat a variety of other animals, including fish and seals. In one study, scientists
examined Greenland sharks to estimate their ages. One shark could have been anywhere from 272 to
512 years old. Even the lower estimate of 272 years still makes these sharks the longest-living
animals with backbones on Earth.

5. Tubeworm: 300+ Years Old

Image 5. Photo: Chuck Fisher/NOAA

Tubeworms live in the cold, stable environment of the deep sea. One kind of tubeworm living on the
ocean floor in the Gulf of Mexico regularly lives up to 200 years. Some survive for more than 300
years. One reason they live so long is because it's rare for them to encounter a threat, like an animal
that wants to eat them.

6. Ocean Quahog Clam: 500+ Years Old

Image 6. Photo: Andrew J. Martinez/Science Source

Ocean quahog clams live in the North Atlantic Ocean. These saltwater clams can live even longer
than freshwater pearl mussels. One ocean quahog clam found off the coast of Iceland in 2006 was
507 years old.

7. Black Coral: 4,000+ Years Old

Image 7. Photo: NOAA

Corals are tiny sea animals that stay in one place throughout their adult lives. Some produce a
skeleton, also called coral, that remains in place after they die. The body of a coral is called a polyp.
These polyps continually create copies of themselves. As they die, their skeletons build up. Over time,
this causes the coral structure to grow bigger and bigger. Corals are made up of multiple identical
organisms rather than being a single organism, like a clam or a shark. So a coral's lifespan is more of
a team effort.

Black corals that live deep in the ocean are among the longest-living corals. Some found off the coast
of Hawaii have been measured to be 4,265 years old.

8. Glass Sponge: 10,000+ Years Old

Image 8. Photo: NOAA

They might not look like it, but sponges are animals, too. They're made up of colonies of animals,
similar to corals, and can also live for thousands of years. Often found in the deep ocean, glass
sponges are among the longest-living sponges on Earth. They're called glass sponges because their
skeletons resemble glass. A 2012 study estimated that one glass sponge was about 11,000 years old.

9. Turritopsis Dohrnii: Potentially Immortal

Image 9. Photo: zafer kizilkaya/Shutterstock

Something that is immortal lives forever. There is a tiny jellyfish called Turritopsis dohrnii that just
might be able to live forever. In fact, it is nicknamed the immortal jellyfish.

Jellyfish have an interesting life cycle. They start life as tiny swimming larvae. Then they dive down
to the seafloor and attach themselves to a hard surface. They change shape into a branching structure
called a polyp. These polyps produce jellyfish which float off through the ocean.

Immortal jellyfish, however, are special. They can turn back into polyps if they are hurt or starving.
Then they can later return to their jellyfish state. The jellyfish, which are native to the Mediterranean
Sea, can reverse their life cycle multiple times. This means, under the right conditions, they may
never die of old age. Immortal jellyfish are not truly immortal, however: they can die from disease or
get eaten.

10. Hydra: Also Potentially Immortal

Image 10. Photo: CHOK SAWATDI KORN/Science Photo Library/Getty Images

Hydras are small soft-bodied animals that live in ponds, lakes and rivers. They look a little like
jellyfish. Like immortal jellyfish, hydras also have the potential to live forever. Hydras don't appear
to age. They are largely made up of stem cells. These special cells can develop into all the different
types of cells needed to build or rebuild a body. Also like immortal jellyfish, hydras can still be eaten
by other animals or die from disease.
 The purpose of this article is to tell readers that there are animals, still alive and how they

are still alive. The purpose of this article is to tell the readers to see what it is like being in the

ocean is like under the waves and know how long the animals have been alive and see what it

like living underwater one of the weirdest things is they do not tell us if they have kids or not and

it does not tell us what it does or how it feels about moving around the bottom of the earth and it

does not have the brainpower to think on what to do next it just does it.

What it is saying throw the article is that some animals can live for a very long time and

others can not live that long but one of the things was that when the animal dies another is born

and it takes its place in the circle of life one of the animals that are the oldest live very deep in

the ocean but that is what this is about it is telling us how long they live and what they are doing

most of them it is really simple most of them are what it is like living what they do to survive

but most of the time they are swimming with a group and when they here is something from the

article.“Scientists have found important differences in the bowhead whale's genes compared to

other mammals.” What this is telling us is that there are many different types of whales in the

world.

One of the most known animal is the Giant tortoise is one of the long-lasting animals to walk on

the earth and they live for a very long time and they do not have many enemies but some time

when someone is trying to kill them it would not work because they have a really strong shell

most of the time it would not work because they would to hurt himself but most of the time they

just lay around and when it moves it like it is trying to find a new place to feed when all of that
food is gone it moves to a different place to find more food what it is tired it goes in its shell and

it sleeps for about an hour or so but when it dies other Giant tortoises will it will start all over.

https://newsela.com/read/longest-living-animals-on-earth/id/2001023218/activities