Have you ever wondered which animals live the longest? Here are the top 10 longest living animals and how long their expectant lifespan is in the wild.
10. African elephant
Life expectancy: 60-70 years
Natural predator: Lions (occasionally)
Place of origin: Africa
Not only do elephants live long, they also have a very good memory. They can remember incidents and they can identify humans they have interacted with before. Although lions are the elephant’s natural predator, humans hunting for ivory are their biggest enemies.
9. Tuatara
Life expectancy: 60-100 years
Natural predator: Large birds of prey
Place of origin: New Zealand
Except for two of the tuatara species, the other tuatara family members went extinct about 60 million years ago. The tuatara is not a lizard, but the only survivor of the order Rhynchocephalia who roamed the earth 200 million years ago.
8. Macaw parrot
Life expectancy: 70-80 years
Natural predator: Large cats, eagles and hawks
Place of origin: Central and Southern America
There are about 20 different species of macaw parrots and some of these birds are critically endangered. Originally from rainforests, these big birds are well sought after as pets, as they are both beautiful and intelligent.
7. Koi fish
Life expectancy: Up to 100 years
Natural predator: Cats and other carnivores
Place of origin: Japan
Their history is as colourful as the variations of colour that they are available in. Around 200BC the Chinese took black carp, or Magoi, into Japan. The Japanese then bred the Koi according to the naturally occurring mutation, resulting in the lovely colours we see today.
6. Greenland shark
Life expectancy: Over 100 years
Natural predator: None, he is an apex predator
Place of origin: Arctic and North Atlantic
This one-tonne-fish eats just about anything that crosses his path in the icy waters. Whether dead or alive, the Greenland shark might eat it. At 6.4m, he has a huge appetite. His defence is that his flesh is poisonous to other living beings.
5. Galapagos giant tortoise
Life expectancy: Over 100 years
Natural predator: Hawks eat their eggs and young
Place of origin: Galapagos Islands
The world’s largest tortoise species is huge, weighing more than 230kg and measuring more than 1.5m in length. Due to his slow metabolism, he can go without food and water for about one year. Carrying such a heavy shell is hard work and this tortoise easily sleeps 16 hours a day.
4. Red Sea urchin
Life expectancy: Over 100 years
Natural predator: Large fish, crabs, eels, humans, sea otters, birds
Place of origin: North Eastern Pacific Ocean
The Red Sea urchin feeds on algae and seaweed from rocks and it makes sense then that his mouth is at the bottom of his body. He has five teeth and his body is covered with hard spines. Specimens of 200 years old have been found.
3. Bowhead whale
Life expectancy: 200 years
Natural predator: Killer whales
Place of origin: Arctic and sub-Arctic waters
The bowhead whale is at home in freezing water, as he has a 50cm ‘blanket’ of blubber to protect him from the cold. Weighing up to 100 tonnes, it is no wonder that only packs of killer whales has a chance to kill a bowhead whale.
2. Clam
Life expectancy: Older than 500
Natural predator: Snails, eels, fish and starfish
Place of origin: Oceans all over the world
There are over 15,000 species of clams in the world, of which only 150 species can be consumed by humans. They live in the sand, upside down, and they eat algae and small organisms that they filter out of the water.
1. Immortal jellyfish
Life expectancy: Immortal
Natural predator: Various types of fish, sea turtles and other jellyfish
Place of origin: Mediterranean Sea
In all reality these jellyfish can die, but when they get old, they can develop new cell types in an intricate process. In this way, they reproduce themselves. They eat a variety of other small organisms in the water, and even other jellyfish.
