Items15The creator’s order
  1. 1Greenland sharkGreenland sharkResearchers estimated that the largest Greenland shark in a radiocarbon study was between 272 and 512 years old. The sample came from the core of its eye lens, tissue laid down before birth that keeps its early carbon signature. Even the low end puts this shark’s lifespan on the scale of centuries.0
  2. 2Arctica islandicaArctica islandicaOne ocean quahog collected off northern Iceland lived for 507 years, according to its shell. The researchers first estimated it at about 405 to 410 years. Matching patterns of annual growth among shells alongside closer reading of the increments helped produce a longer count. Even a good shell can…0
  3. 3Bowhead whaleBowhead whaleOld whaling implements recovered from bowheads suggested that some animals had lived more than a century. Eye lenses provided a way to estimate ages using changes in the molecular form of aspartic acid. The estimates for several whales exceeded a century, giving independent evidence of a lifespan…0
  4. 4Aldabra giant tortoiseAldabra giant tortoiseAldabra giant tortoises can live for more than a century. Their documented time in human care can be easier to pin down than their birth dates. Two Smithsonian residents arrived in 1976 and were already adults, so the zoo gives an age estimate for them. A dated arrival is a firm anchor for a long,…0
  5. 5OlmOlmA captive colony gave researchers decades of records on this cave salamander. The oldest animals had been followed long enough for a lower bound of 48 years, with their earlier ages unknown. A projection based on those records put the maximum lifespan beyond 100 years. The long observation and the…0
  6. 6Naked mole-ratNaked mole-ratIn captivity these small rodents have lived beyond 30 years. In a study spanning about 35 years of age, their risk of dying at any given time stayed low across the observed ages. That population measure can tell us how the pace of aging differs from the number of years a single animal lives.0
  7. 7Red sea urchinRed sea urchinA large red sea urchin can live past a century. Researchers compared growth estimates from marked animals with radiocarbon signatures in pieces of the jaw skeleton. Carbon from mid-century nuclear testing supplied a date marker. The two kinds of evidence let researchers check whether slow growth…0
  8. 8MonorhaphisMonorhaphisMonorhaphis chuni This deep-sea glass sponge anchors itself with a long silica spike. By comparing chemical changes across layers of one spike with past ocean temperatures, researchers estimated about 11,000 years of growth, with uncertainty of about 3,000 years in either direction. The…0
  9. 9Rougheye rockfishRougheye rockfishAn Alaska rockfish first identified as a rougheye was assigned an age of 205 from a section of an otolith, a hard structure in the inner ear. Some growth marks were difficult to distinguish, and the author gave about 170 years as a lower reading. Later work separated two similar rockfish species,…0
  10. 10Siberian batSiberian batThe gap between two captures can be more informative than the animal’s appearance. A banded bat from Siberia was caught again 41 years after it was first marked, giving a firm minimum. The paper called it a Brandt’s bat. The population at the site is now assigned to the Siberian bat.0