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No matter how many years you have lived or how old you feel, each and every one of us is a baby compared to these guys. There are many examples in the animal kingdom that will make even the oldest person in the world feel like a youngster. In the following list you will find the "age record holders of the wild", the last one even changed everything we thought we knew about natural life and aging! Cookie the Cockatoo |
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This male Major Mitchell's Cockatoo, residing at Brookfield Zoo near Chicago, is believed to be the oldest member of his species alive at the age of 81. He has significantly exceeded the average lifespan for his kind and is one of the longest living birds in known history. Just to give you a comparison to compare his amazing age, the next oldest Major Mitchell's Cockatoo is "only" 31 years old. |
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Greater the Flamingo |
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Named after his breed of "Grater Flamingos", Greater was a true fighter with an incredible story. While others of his kind have an average life expectancy of 20 – 25 years, Greater lived to be 83 years old. This senior citizen of the Adelaide Zoo in Australia even survived a shocking case of abuse in 2008. He was put to sleep in 2014 to spare him from pains caused by medical conditions. |
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Bowhead Whales |
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These giant mammals live in the freezing waters of the Arctic Circle and are known to live up to 200 years. This makes them the longest living mammals on Earth. In addition, to get all the food they need to live that long, Bowhead Whales are also the record holders for the largest mouth of any animal. |
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Granny the Orca |
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This Killer Whale is 103 years old, making her the oldest known orca alive. Granny was captured and released with the rest of her pod in 1967. Despite her age, she was just as active and able as other members of the pod. |
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Henry the Tuatara |
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The Tuatara are lizards found only in New Zealand and Herny is the oldest known one at the age of 115. Not only is he the undisputed star of the Southland Museum in Invercargill, but he also became a proud father a few years ago, possibly for the first time, at the age of 111. |
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George the Lobster |
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Lobsters don’t stop growing for as long as they live so when 20 pounds (9.1 kg) George was captured in 2008, it was clear he is no young boy. Researchers estimate he is about 140 years old and even though he was bought by a seafood restaurant in New York, this old-timer was released to live out the rest of his days in freedom. |
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Orange Roughy Fish |
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The orange roughy is notable for its extraordinary lifespan, about 150 years. These fish have "growth rings" on their body much like a tree has. By counting by the rings of orange roughys it was found that they can live to a maximum age of 125 to 156 years. The fish is actually a bright, brick-red color however, the orange roughy fades to a yellowish orange after death. |
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Russian Sturgeon Fish |
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Most of these fish live for 55 – 60 years, but there have been known cases of some sturgeons living up to 152 years old. What is really amazing about them is that they are living fossils, they have existed in their current form since the time of the dinosaurs! |
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Geoduck |
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These large, edible, saltwater clams are mostly found along the west coast of North America. The shell of the clam ranges from 15 centimeters (5.9 in) to over 20 centimeters (7.9 in) in length, but the extremely long siphons make the clam itself much longer than this. The "neck", or siphons, alone can be up to 1 meter (3.3 ft) in length. The geoduck is both one of the largest clams in the world, and one of the longest-lived animals of any type. The oldest recorded specimen was 168 years old. |
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Red Sea Urchins |
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Most of this spiky little creatures live to about 30 years of age, which is about average in the animal kingdom and not really impressive. However, marine biologists have found some Red Sea Urchins in the freezing north waters near Alaska that were almost 200 years old! |
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Adwaita the Giant Tortoise |
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His name means "the only one" in Sanskrit. He was believed to be amongst the longest-living animals in the world when he died in 2006, at the age of 255 years. Adwaita was reportedly given to Robert Clive of the East India Company by British seafarers who captured it from Aldabra, an atoll in the Seychelles Islands. Weighing 250 kg (590 lb), he lived on a diet of wheat bran, carrots, lettuce, soaked gram, bread, grass and salt. |
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Ming the Clam |
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Ming was a nickname given to a specimen of the ocean quahog clam that was dredged off the coast of Iceland in 2006. Its age was calculated by counting the annual growth lines in the shell. Originally thought to be 405 years old, the clam was later determined to be 507 years old! Ming was the oldest individual (non-colonial) animal ever discovered. |
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The immortal jellyfish |
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This is a species of small jellyfish which is found in the Mediterranean Sea and in the waters of Japan. It is unique in that it exhibits a certain form of "immortality". It is the only known case of an animal capable of reverting completely to a sexually immature, colonial stage after having reached sexual maturity as a solitary stage. Simply speaking, this means that it has the ability to change its age from mature to baby. Theoretically, this process can go on indefinitely, effectively rendering the jellyfish biologically immortal. |
