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Why do animals have shorter lifespans?

Started by ragarth, December 07, 2009, 12:49:03 PM

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Whitney

if you are looking for "religious" answers....doesn't the fact that some animals do live longer than humans affect your question.  

I think the religious answer would be that we use to live for 100s of years but that the fall released evil that affects our life spans and animals do not need to live longer than humans because they are for our enjoyment.

Purplez

It has to do with how many offsprings one can carry and how long they need to be taken care of. So, humans can usually carry just one child who needs many years of support before they can be independent. Kittens, on the other hand, need just a few months and many of them are born at the same time.

Smarmy Of One

I think lifespan may have more to do with metabolism than size. Giant tortoises live for a few hundred years and they are not bigger than people. Along with the other examples given in previous posts. I think the faster a metabolism the faster the organism burns out. This is just my own supposition, but I am not a biologist.

Heretical Rants

Small prey animals need to reproduce quickly and in mass quantities.  Humans that do not breed until relatively late in life need to have longer lifespans.

See, it all balances out :)

Sophus

There are a few animals that live longer than we do on average now. The tortoise, the parrot, certain whales and even fresh-water oysters. There have been instances when a few other animals of a species will outlive the average human lifespan. But our life span wasn't that impressive before modern science and medicine. Depending upon the period it has ranged everywhere from 40-60, 60-80, to just 33 or 20 years.

Quote from: "Heretical Rants"Small prey animals need to reproduce quickly and in mass quantities. Humans that do not breed until relatively late in life need to have longer lifespans.

See, it all balances out :)  
Yup. Scientists found the link to DNA and lifespan.
‎"Christian doesn't necessarily just mean good. It just means better." - John Oliver

curiosityandthecat

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