Do we really live longer than other mammals?

[Ando333 135]

Do other mammals really live that less than the human or is it just because we know how to care more about ourselves and don't really care about investing as much for other species's health and a longer life?

Horses for instance apparently have a lifespan of 25-30 years, almost the same as the human in most of its history. We now can easily get to 80~ thank to technology. Is it really all only thank to technology? or the human actually lived more than 30 years in the past and I'm being fooled by a missconception?

Why even with today's treatment horses still live 25-30 years? or they actually live more now than before just like us?

[ShadOBabe 19,016]

Some race horses are worth millions of dollars. They would absolutely be taken great care of even after getting too old to race, because they can still be used for breeding. But they still wouldn't live much longer than three decades.

 

Some critically endangered animals in captivity are given the best care in the world in order to preserve their species. But they still don't outlive people. Some creatures do just have different life spans.

[Red Cedar 1,408]

According to Wikipedia, the record longest-living non-human mammal was an Asian elephant who lived to the age of 86. These elephants normally only live to 50 and the longest life expectancy is normally 70.

 

The oldest horse on record supposedly lived to 62.

 

The oldest mammal that is closest to humans was an orangutan that lived to age 55.

 

Tortoises, however, blow us out of the water on a regular basis. The oldest was believed to have been over 250.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest-living_organisms

 

 

Horses for instance apparently have a lifespan of 25-30 years, almost the same as the human in most of its history. We now can easily get to 80~ thank to technology. Is it really all only thank to technology? or the human actually lived more than 30 years in the past and I'm being fooled by a missconception?

 

While the average life expectancy through most of history was around 30, this is because of an enormous (by modern standards) child mortality rate. If you eliminate the deaths of those under the age of five, life expectancy got much closer to around 60.

[Ganondorf8 11,471]

Tortoises can easily outlive humans and those that are pets have been known to be passed down from one owner to the next as a result of their longevity. Most mammals sadly don't live as long as humans though some have come close due to unusual circumstances that enabled it to happen.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 42,018]

Technology and human advancement does play a big role for us at least, because life expectancy in the 1200's for example was around 35, due to lack of medical care and other problems. Nowadays, the human race seems to reach much higher numbers which could be a sign that humans could always live that long, but simply didn't reach it most of the time because of outside influences.

[Yellow Diamond 7,576]

Some mammals, such as elephants, can live as long as humans. But on the whole, we benefit from improved medical care (as Kyoshi mentioned) and a lack of natural predators (aside from each other, I guess). Bear in mind, too, that humans have the longest developmental period of any mammal. I reckon it's a contributing factor to our longer natural lifespans and our general ability to collaborate as a species in complex ways.

[Flutter's lover <3 8,206]

For the most part, yes...I think the oldest living person is currently 112 years old.. Though, like said above, some animals such as tortoises do tend to outlive the average human life span. I'm sure with the advancement of animal feed/pet food, we've also extended the life expectancy of most animals that have been domesticated to some extent.

[Fluttershutter 2,665]

Whales may live longer. No one's kept track long enough.

[Guest]

I'm pretty sure humans live the longest on average, cause of technology and medicine advancing, there's been a drastic change over the past centuries in average lifelength of a human, and it'll most likely keep getting longer.

[cmarston1 5,962]

I am pretty sure that most animals don't live nearly as long as humans do.

[Jeric 46,873]

The interesting truth to this question is that we really don't know ... at least not completely. We know that some mammals will enter a net loss of cellular reproduction at different times, so there is some form of built in expiration date. There is some correlation between metabolism and heart rate, and when cells start dying at a greater rate that they are being created. It isn't all 'environmental' either. While humans have greatly extended their lifespans, we cannot seem to do the same for animals under controlled care, at least not to the extent we experienced. This is at least a little surprising considering proven concepts like elasticity.

 

That said, humans seem to have a higher rate of cellular respiration that lasts longer than most mammals. It also isn't limited to end of life. There is also a huge difference in growth hormones. Dogs gain adult teeth at nine weeks ... and can bear young at a year old.

 

At no time in homo sapien​'s history could we have reached reproductive maturity at that age. It is another piece of the puzzle that suggest that some mammals simply have a longer life span, and the entire life cycle is impacted.

[Yakamaru 3,129]

Because humans have a real hardon for fighting wars, the average lifespan for men were like 30 for a loong time. If we hadn't been fighting constantly for millennia(and still are in some areas of the world) that average would be a lot higher.

 

Compared to the lifespan of a horse, a human have on average, 2.5x theirs. This is due to technologies such as vaccines, much bigger increase in personal hygiene, and a dramatic decrease in death rates due to everything from accidents to illnesses and diseases. There are other factors also coming into play, but those are some of the biggest ones.

Edited March 25, 2017 by Autism is Cute AF

[SugarCoatxMarblePie 701]

That's because reptiles don't generate oxidizing body heat, mammals probably then also have a higher rate of cancer.

[Stone Cold Steve Jobs 22,477]

As you said, the original human lifespan was only around 30 years. Now we have people breaking 100 fairly often, and others are researching how to live forever and estimate a breakthrough by 2040. 

I personally think you shouldn't mess with nature too much. If we find a way to live forever, nature is going to find a way to break it.

[FluffyGoat13 375]

Recent studies have found that harpoon heads from 1890 have been found in the bodies of recently killed Bowhead Whales, and now their life expectancy has been placed to be somewhere over 200 years, but it's hard for us to figure out exactly what their life expectancy is due to them living in the ocean and that no one has been studying them for long enough.

On 2017-3-9 at 3:28 PM, Fluttershutter said:

Whales may live longer. No one's kept track long enough.

Well we know Bowheads live past 200 now, so we've got that info.

[DubWolf 17,634]

Aren't blue whales mammals and capable of living a pretty long time  ? Like 90-100+ years  . I guess we outlive a lot of mammals but not always  .

[Nerdy Luigi 2,065]

Except for whales, yes. We beat out an Elephant's lifespan by about 20 years.

[Yakamaru 3,129]

On average, human females live for 83 years. Males live for 76 years.

There are few animals in general that have a longer lifespan than us. And keep in mind: Our average lifespan have pretty much increased by 60%-100% since 0 AD. The average lifespan at that time were around 35-40 years if I remember correctly.

[Invincible 2,092]

Humanity has access to resources other mammals do not, such as science and technology. I think that if you took these from us, we'd die decades earlier due to diseases and other natural causes.

Keep in mind that during the Stone age you'd probably be lucky to reach the ripe old age of 20.

[Hierok 11,833]

I read somewhere a theory why we live longer.

The heart has a surtan beats in your live. Since we grown and don't have to hunt anymore, our heartbeat are stronger and slower and that's why we live longer. Tortoises live longer because their heart is so slow as their body's. I don't know if it is true, but I've red it somewhere. 

[TBD 17,263]

Whales do lived much longer than we do, up 117-245 yrs.

[Nsxile 27,637]

Whales live longer than we do, as their average life expectancy is 200 years apparently 

[Lucky Bolt 35,109]

I dunno but apparently whales can have a longer life span than humans sooo...