20/02/2023
The longest-living animals are equipped with traits to hold off, and sometimes even stop or reverse, the aging process. While humans may have an "absolute limit" of 150 years, this is just a blink of an eye compared with the centuries and millennia that some animals live through.
The true age champions live in water, often at great depths where conditions are stable and consistent. Scientists can't record the birth and death of every member of a species, so they typically estimate maximum life spans based on what is known about a species' biology. From old to oldest, here are 12 of the longest-living animals in the world today.
12. SEYCHELLES GIANT TORTOISE: 190+ YEARS OLD
A 2017 photo of Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise thought to be the oldest reptile living on Earth. Jonathan lives on Saint Helena, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean.
A 2017 photo of Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise thought to be the oldest reptile living on Earth. Jonathan lives on Saint Helena, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. (Image credit: Gianluigi Guercia/AFP via Getty Images)
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Tortoises are famed for their longevity. The oldest living land animal is a 190-year-old Seychelles giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa) named Jonathan. The tortoise lives on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean after having been brought there by people from the Seychelles in 1882. Jonathan's age is an estimate, but a photograph of him taken between 1882 and 1886 shows he was fully mature — at least 50 years old — in the late 19th century, Live Science previously reported.
On Jan. 12, 2022, Guinness World Records(opens in new tab) announced that Jonathan was the oldest tortoise ever. "He is a local icon, symbolic of persistence in the face of change," Joe Hollins, Jonathan's veterinarian, told Guinness World Records at the time.
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Giant tortoises need to live a long time so they can breed repeatedly and produce plenty of eggs, because many of their eggs are eaten by predators. Their ability to quickly kill off damaged cells that normally deteriorate with age may help tortoises live so long, Live Science previously reported.
Related: Tiny white tortoise baby is the 'first of its kind'
11. RED SEA URCHINS: 200 YEARS OLD
View of an urchin barren at the bottom of a large underwater reef crevace in Van Damme State Park, California
(Purple sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) and red sea urchins (Mesocentrotus franciscanus). in Van Damme State Park, California. (Image credit: Brent Durand via Getty Images)
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Red sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus franciscanus) are small, round invertebrates covered in spines. They live in shallow coastal waters off North America from California to Alaska, where they feed on marine plants, according to Oregon State University(opens in new tab). Researchers used to assume that red sea urchins grew quickly and had modest life spans of up to about 10 years, but as scientists studied the species in more detail, they realized these urchins continue to grow very slowly and, in some locations, will survive for centuries if they can avoid predators, disease and fishers.
The red sea urchins found off Washington and Alaska probably live more than 100 years, and the longest-living individuals in British Columbia, Canada, may be around 200 years old, according to a 2003 study published in the journal Fishery Bulletin(opens in new tab).
Related: Mysterious 'blue goo' at the bottom of the sea stumps scientists
