LONG-LIVED ANIMALS NOT NUMEROUS.
Current stories of long-lived ani- mals, says the New York World, are discredited by Prof. A. D. Peacock, of University College, Dundee, Scotland, in a recent tabulation of the greatest recorded ages of all kinds of animals, made for the British publication, the Wonders of Animal Life, now being issued in London. For the elephant, usually supposed long to outlive man, the longest authentic record which Prof. Peacock has found is 70 years. The maxlmiim attested age for a whale is 40 years.
Only four creatures are regularly apt to live longer than man. These are the giant tortoise, for which 150- year age is unquestionable, and 200 years a probability; the German carp, which may live for 150 years; the white-headed vulture, for one which bird there is a record of 118 years, and the eagle, which has an attested rec- ord of 104 years. Pour other birds, the crow, the parrot, the raven and the eider duck of the Arctic, may live about as long as long-lived men or women, their mj.idmum records being about 100 years 'each.
Two fish, the salmon and the shark, probably equal this record; and one variety of shell fish, the giant mussel, called Tridacna gigas. A sea anemone once lived In a zoological laboratory fcf 66 years. The insect record is held by a fire beetle found alive in a piece of wood which the Insect must have entered 37 years before. Ant queens have been known to live for 13 years, but the longest-lived fiea is 18 months. The record louse is 7 weeks, and the housefly, ignoring doubtful cases, lives only 34 days or less.
A toad is known to have lived for 36 years, an alligator for 40, and an eel for 60, The record for a goose Is 57 years, and for a hen 30 years. Lions and tigers live only about 25 years, but at least one domestic cat lived to be 40. The record age for dogs is 36 years; a horse has lived to be 40 and a cow 25. The shortest of lives are among the Insects, while the winged male of the in.sect called Stylops may live. Prof. Peacock states, for only 1 to 3 hours, although the femal« lives for several days.
Washington Post, Jan 21, 1930
