ANIMAL LIFE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 587, 19 July 1933, Page 3

ANIMAL LIFE

COMPARATiVE SPANS MAN LSHADS IN LIST OF MODERN MAMMALS. LONGE VITY„ OF TORTOISES. The most reliable contributions on the subject of the duration of animal life are those that have been compiled by Sir Peter Chalmers Mitehell . and Major Stanley Flo'wer, and their findings as recorded will surprise the average map and dispel some cherished illusions. Among warm-blooded animals civilised man is easily the winner in life's race. Be it noted that this applies only to civilised man, for the so-called "savage," despite his open-air and undeniably "simple" life, approaches senility long before the average "city worker." Longevity of the kind associated with Methuselah is only to be met with in the realms of scientific truth among the cold-blooded creatures and ajftong these records worthy of the name have been set up by a few tortoises. A tortoise that recently died and had been kept for many years in the Artillery smess at Mauritius, was specially mentioned in the charter drawn up when the island was taken from the French in 1810. At that date it was scheduled as a centenarian. Another of these giant reptiles recently living on the island of St. Helena was a co-prisoner with the great Napoleon. Even the small European tortoises, such as are sold on„coster's barrows, attain to a great age. One that died a few years ago had been kept in the same family in Cornwall for 96 years. Fish may live to a comparatively old age, although little is known as to their potential longevity. Some freshwater sturgeons kept in Captain Vipan's aquarium at Stebbington Hall, in Northamptonshire, were obtained from the Volga some 40 years back, while a big Wels, or giant catfish, from the Danube, which is still living in the Duke of Bedford's lake 6at Woburn, was introdueed into its present quarters over 60 years ago, writes E. C. Boulenger in the Observer. It must he admitted that most fish life-records, like most fish stories, are unsatisfactory. A classic example is that of a pike reputed to he over 200 years old, because a Queen Anne coin was found in its stomach. But however untrustworthy fish records may be, unimpeachable statistics are not wanting in the case of mammals and birds. Most mammals are comparatively short-lived, and those that attain to even 30 years and over can be counted on one's fingers. They are Man, 100 years; elephants, 50 years, rhinoceroses, 45 years; hippopotami, 40 years; horses, 40 years, whales, 40 years; hears, 35 years; apes, 35 years; cats, 3 years; and giraffes, 30 years. Although at variance with popular traditions, large animals do not necessarily tend to live longer than small ones. Whales, for instance, the largest of all mamals, do not, according to experts, live to he more than about 40. Their rate- of growth, it has been recently ascertained, is extraordinarily rapid, some of the largest forms beeoming scxually mature when under three years of age. Mistaken Assumption. Elephants are generally regarded as living to a century or more, hut available records indicate that the animal seldom exceeds the age of 50. Major Flower, who has examined the/ "dossiers" of some hundreds of elephants kept in India, as well as in Europe and America, states that hej is unahle to find any evidence of an elepbant living to the age of 100. He is of opinion that the life span of these animals is less than that of a man, averaging about 40. i „ . As man holds the record for vity among mammals one would ex- | pect the man-like apes to come next i in order. The potential longevity of an apey however, does not exceed 35 years. The record at the London Zoo is held by a chimpanzee, who died some years ago at the age of 26, suffering from senile decay. Writing on the subject of lions, animals which have been kept for over 30 years in captivity, Major Flower observes that this animal does so well in captivity that it outlives its normal span of life. He points out that a captive lion sheltered from the elements and from eompetitors in the struggle for cxistence and with' suitahle food placed within reach, goes on living to an age that it could not attain in the wild state. A wild lion is in its prime of life when five and six years old; after 10 years his chance of remaining alive depends on his individual cleverness and the absence of eompetitors for food.^ A few birds have acquired fabulous reputations for longevity, and on no more stable ground than those* attached to the elephant. The raven m the Tower of London, for instance, are regarded with awe by many visitors who helieve them to he centenarians. The records in the guard-room, where every raven is attested like any soldier, shows the oldest ever kept within its walls to have heen not more than 10 years "on the strength. The parrot, apparently, justifies some of the stories told about the hird's longevity, since there are authentic' records of specimens enjoymg from 70 to 105 years of raucous li±e, hoth in puhlic menageries and under nrivate ownership. Small birds live longer than one might suppose; a nightingale.has been recorded to have lived 25 years under captive conditions; a skylark 24, a greenfinch 23, a cardinal 23, and a canary 20.