The oldest animals in the world. The oldest turtles in the world. The oldest cats
Contemporaries of Caesar or Raphael? They live somewhere on the planet. Yes, and contemporaries of dinosaurs, perhaps, can be found. Long-lived record holders bear little resemblance to us, but people hope that one day science will learn from these animals to prolong their active existence. Homo sapiens
Immortality
JELLYFISH
Turritopsis dohrnii
Type - stingers
Class - hydroid
Detachment - Anthoathecata
Family - Oceaniidae
View - Turritopsis dohrnii
Lifespan - theoretically unlimited
medusa Turritopsis dohrnii often referred to as immortal. More precisely, she is able to live forever. This is how common jellyfish breed. The initial stage of development of an organism from fertilized cells is a polyp (like those that form coral reefs). At a certain stage, the polyp gives birth to a jellyfish. And that, reaching puberty, participates in reproduction and dies. A mature jellyfish cannot return to the polyp stage. But just not Turritopsis dohrnii- when unfavorable conditions occur, it attaches to some surface, and its cells transform, as if returning to the "infant" stage. Then the polyp again gives birth to a jellyfish ... And it seems that there is no place for death in the chain of these metamorphoses.
Up to 250 Ma
SPORE
Bacillus permians
Domain - bacteria
View - Bacillus permians
Lifespan - possibly up to 250 million years
Theoretical immortality is one thing, the observed life of 250 million years is another! In 2000, a paper was published stating that American researchers managed to awaken bacilli from hibernation. Bacillus permians found in salt deposits (New Mexico). All this quarter of a billion years, bacilli have existed in the form of spores, within which metabolic processes have practically stopped. If this incredible discovery receives further confirmation, we will know for sure that bacteria have no competitors in terms of longevity.
10,000 years
BACTERIUM
Bacterium
Domain - bacteria
Mode of existence - chemotrophic bacteria
Lifespan - 10,000 years
Even without producing spores, bacteria can live an astonishingly long time. Microorganisms that live under the ocean floor at a depth of 700 m can withstand tremendous pressure and high temperatures (about 100 degrees), and besides, they live for at least 10,000 years - from division to division. Super-centenarians found in soil samples obtained during drilling of the seabed from a scientific vessel JOIDES. Presumably, this ancient life has existed for about 100 million years - this is the age of the sediments from which the samples were taken.
Over 5000 years
PINE
Pinus longaeva
Class - coniferous
Family - pine
Genus - pine
View - awned pine intermountain
Life span - more than 5000 years
Speaking about the longevity of trees, we most often recall oaks and baobabs, but conifers are among the champions here. The age of the Old Tyikko spruce growing on Mount Fulu in Sweden is estimated at 9560 years! True, its current trunk is much younger, and for these thousands of years the ancient root system lived, from which, after the death of one trunk, a genetically identical new one grew. It is also possible that spruce was propagated by layering, when a branch that leaned towards the ground took root and gave life to a new plant. In general, Old Tyikko is a clonal tree, and groves of clonal trees connected to each other by roots can exist for tens of thousands of years.
The main contender for the individual record also comes from conifers. This is a pine aristocratic intermountain (Pinus longaeva) growing high in the mountains of North America. Age - 5666 years. Plant seeds can live even longer! Russian scientists have germinated the seeds of the angustifolia (Silene stenophylla), which have lain under a layer of permafrost for 32,000 years.
2300 years
SPONGE
Xestospongia muta
Detachment - Haplosclerida
Family - Petrosiidae
Genus - Xestospongia
View - Xestospongia muta
Lifespan - 2300 years
Somewhere in the ocean you can find creatures born 300 years before Christ. The body of a sponge consists of two layers of integumentary cells and a jelly-like mesohyl located between them, which filters the water in search of something nutritious. When there are no nerves, life becomes so simple that you can live up to 2300 years, like, for example, a sponge Xestospongia muta, it is also called a giant barrel sponge. However, there are many centenarians among aquatic invertebrates. famous clam Arctica Islandica who lived 507 years.
up to 500 years
SHARK
somniosus microcephalus
Class - cartilaginous fish
Detachment - katranobraznye
Family - somniose sharks
Genus - polar sharks
Species - Greenland polar shark
Life expectancy - up to 500 years
Outside the world of bacteria, plants, and coelenterates, the numbers are much more modest. "Only" until the half-millennium anniversary, perhaps, the Greenland polar shark is able to survive - a large, slow-moving one that lives in the cold Arctic waters of the Atlantic. There, in the cold and darkness, where there is nowhere to hurry and no one to be afraid of, the fish developed a slow metabolism, which, apparently, became the main reason for longevity. Yes, and multiplying quickly is useless - the nutritional base of a formidable predator is not so limitless. Therefore, few cubs are born, and the female shark reaches sexual maturity only by the age of 150.
up to 250 years
TURTLE
Megalochelys gigantea
Squad - turtles
Family - land turtles
Genus - giant tortoises
View - giant tortoise
Life expectancy - up to 250 years
Giant Seychelles tortoises can live to a very advanced age Megalochelys gigantea, and they are record holders among reptiles. It seems that nature gave turtles biological mechanisms that prevent shortening of telomeres - the ends of DNA strands - after the next cell division. There is another reason why it is easier for a turtle to save itself for life through the ages. Being a cold-blooded animal, it does not spend the resources of the body to maintain the desired body temperature. This reduces the load on the cardiovascular system and prevents its wear.
Over 200 years
WHALE
Balaena mysticetus
Kingdom - animals
Type - chordates
Class - mammals
Order - cetaceans
Family - smooth whales
View - bowhead whale
Life expectancy - more than 200 years
Of the mammals, the bowhead whale, which can live a couple of centuries or more, is “taken off” for everyone. To date, only one case is known when an animal of this species died a natural death, and did not, for example, become a victim of a person. The whale has practically no natural enemies. But how does he manage to fight old age? As biologists from the University of Alabama have found, the bowhead whale's body has mechanisms that partly suppress the main ailments of aging, including cancer. The animal leads an extremely calm lifestyle, somewhat similar to the lifestyle of the Greenland shark. True, bowhead whales begin to have sex not at 150, but at 20. After all, mammals, not archaic fish ...
MAN 122
86 years old
ELEPHANT
Elephas maximus
Detachment - proboscis
Family - elephant
Genus - Asian elephants
View - Asian elephant
Life expectancy - 86 years
In land-dwelling mammals, the Asian elephant holds the record (Elephas maximus). True, this is if we exclude a person from the rating (after all, priority belongs to Homo sapiens- there are many examples of longevity with access to the centennial milestone). As for Indian elephants, in the wild they live up to 60-70 years. By old age, the incisors wear down and can no longer process plants for food. The animal is doomed. In captivity, with the help of people, giants are able to stretch even longer - a case is known when an elephant died at the zoo at the age of 86 years.
83 years old
FLAMINGO
Phoenicopterus roseus
Squad - flamingos
Family - flamingos
Genus - flamingos
View - pink flamingo
Life expectancy - 83 years
Almost everyone has heard the legend about the ravens of the Tower, which have been living for 300 years. The fairy tale is beautiful, but science cannot confirm anything like this. There is evidence that at the time of his death, the longest raven who lived in the Tower was 44 years old. But in fact, in the feathered regiment, Greater, the pink flamingo, became the record holder for longevity. (Phoenicopterus roseus) from the Adelaide Zoo (Australia). He passed away in 2014 at the age of 83. Long-lived rivals are known among condors and large parrots such as cockatoos or macaws. All longevity records are in captivity. In nature, relatives of the mentioned birds live much less, because old age is far from the only factor that leads to the death of the organism. This also applies to the "eternal" jellyfish.
It may seem to some that mammals (and we are among them) turned out to be offended by nature. However, the lifespan of an organism is just a strategy imposed by population selection. And if even one-day moths continue to live, breed and multiply, then the strategy adopted is correct, and the fate of an individual, as biologists say, does not matter for evolution. Everything that does not die for a long time is either primitive or leads a “slowed down” lifestyle. And hardly any of us would like to become a bacterium or a jellyfish.
Photo: Getty Images (x2), Alamy (x2), SPL (x2) / Legion-media, AGE, Imagebroker / Legion-media, Alamy (x3) / Legion-media
This woman is the oldest inhabitant of our planet: the Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment was born on 02/21/1875 and died on 08/04/1997, having lived 122 years 164 days. During her life, two World Wars took place, the first man flew into space, the Internet was invented, but for some representatives of the fauna this age is only half, or even a third of life. Do you want to know for which long-lived animals?
1. 122 years - Bowhead whale 
The length of the bowhead whale can reach 20 meters, and the weight, second only to the weight of the blue whale, varies between 75-100 tons. The habitat of the mammal is exclusively arctic and subarctic waters, unlike other species of whales migrating to other places. Unfortunately, this type of whale is classified as "endangered".
2. 125 years - sturgeon 
Sturgeons (family Acipenseridae) are one of the oldest families of bony fish. Habitat - subtropical, temperate and subarctic zones: off the coast of North America and Eurasia, in lakes and rivers. Usually, the sturgeon grows up to 2-3 meters in length, occasionally - up to 5.5 meters. In April of this year, a 125-year-old specimen weighing 108 kg and 2.2 meters long was caught by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which was tagged and then released. (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources)
3. 149 years old - Atlantic bighead 
Atlantic bigheads live at a depth of 180-1800 meters in the waters of the eastern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, in the western Pacific Ocean, and also off the coast of Chile. The bright red color of the fish after death is replaced by a yellowish or orange tint. The oldest representative of this species lived to be 149 years old.
4. 168 years - Guidac 
Guidac is a very large edible mollusk belonging to the Hiatellidae family. The habitat is the western coast of North America (mainly the state of Washington and British Columbia). Not very popular until the 1970s, recently shellfish have been in demand in Asian markets, which is why their value has risen sharply. The oldest individual guidaka was 168 years old. (Seattle P.I.)
5. 170 years - Lamellibrachia luymesi 
The habitat of this species of tube worms belonging to the Siboglinidae family is the deep water of the northern part of the Gulf of Mexico (500-800 m). The worm, growing rather slowly, can reach a length of 3 meters. (Charles Fisher)
6. 200 years - Red sea urchin 
Although this type of hedgehog is called "red", their color ranges from orange and pink to almost black. It lives in shallow water (maximum 90 m) near rocky coasts in the waters of the Pacific Ocean (from Alaska to Baja California). Sharp needles, reaching a length of up to 8 cm, completely cover the round body of the hedgehog. (Kirt L. Onthank)
7. 210-250 years old - European pearl 
Belongs to a rare species of freshwater pearl mussels (Margaritiferidae family), producing pearls of excellent quality, which are mined by man. Recently, the Russian scientist Valery Zyuganov made a discovery: this type of mollusk does not show signs of aging, and their maximum life span reaches 210-250 years. (Joel Berglund)
8. 226 years - Koi Hanako 
The koi carp is a species of beautiful domesticated carp that is bred to be kept in garden ponds for ornamental purposes. Koi varieties vary in size, pattern, and scale color. The most common colors are black, white, yellow, cream, blue and yellow. Age is determined in the same way as in trees: by the number of rings located on the scales of most fish. Thanks to this method, the age of the oldest koi carp, Hanako, was determined, who died at the age of 226 years. (Stan Shebs)
9. 256 years - Giant tortoise 
One of the oldest animals on the planet is a 250-kilogram male giant tortoise named Advaita (translated from Sanskrit as "one and only"), who lived in the Calcutta Zoo (India). As evidenced by historical data, Advaita was the pet of Robert Clive, a British general from the East India Company, having lived on the territory of his mansion for several years. Approximately 130 years ago, Advaita was transferred to the Calcutta Zoo, and died in 2006.
10. 507 years old - Arctica islandica bivalve mollusc 
This species of bivalve molluscs, belonging to the Arcticidae family, lives in the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean at a depth of 7-400 meters. Collect shellfish for food. Two individuals of bivalves lived to 375 and 507 years. (Manfred Heyde)
While we are looking for the secrets of longevity, there are creatures on our planet that live for more than a hundred years. And there are even immortals.
1. George, a huge lobster that weighs about 9.1 kg. George is approximately 140 years old. In 2008, he was caught off the coast of Newfoundland, then sold for $ 100 to a restaurant in New York. However, in 2009, under the influence of the Society for the Protection of Animals, he was released back into the ocean.
2. Tuatara Henry, who lives at the Southland Museum, New Zealand, recently celebrated his 115th birthday. Just imagine that Henry was born back in the 19th century.
Despite his advanced age, in 2009 Henry became a father.
3. Guidaki is a species of marine mollusks considered to be the largest burrowing molluscs. In addition, guidaki are also long-lived: their average life expectancy is 146 years, and the age of the oldest individual found today is 168 years.
4. This is Jonathan, 182-year-old St. Helena giant tortoise. "He is practically blind, has lost his sense of smell, but he still has good hearing," says a local veterinarian. At 182, Jonathan may be the oldest living creature on the planet.
This is Jonathan in the 1900s
This is Jonathan now.
5. Greeter is an 83-year-old flamingo who until recently lived at the Adelaide Zoo. Greeter came to the zoo in the 1930s, but was unfortunately euthanized in 2014 when his condition deteriorated.
6. In the cold dark water at a depth of 600 meters, time flows slowly. Hoplostet are a species of deep-sea fish known for reaching sexual maturity by the age of 20 and can live up to 150 years. The oldest hoplostet was born in the year when serfdom was abolished in Russia.
7. Red sea urchins live an average of about 200 years and live in shallow waters off the western coast of America. Red hedgehogs attracted particular attention of scientists after a mark dated 1805 was found on one of them.
8. Cockatoo Cookie turned 80 last year. He was caught in Australia in 1933 and shipped to the US, where he lives in the Brookfield Zoo.
9. A clam named Min, caught on the Icelandic shelf, according to the first assumptions, lived for 400 years. When re-analyzed, scientists determined its age at around 507 years.
10. Bowhead whales can live up to 200 years. The average lifespan of this species is about 40 years. However, some individuals can live up to 211 years, which is a record among vertebrates.
11. 103-year-old Granny, the oldest known killer whale, is the matriarch of the killer whale community. She was born the same year as Ronald Reagan.
12. Advaita - a giant 250-year-old turtle from the island of Aldabra. Unfortunately, Advaita died in 2006. It was very popular with tourists and attracted many visitors to the Calcutta City Zoo.
13. Turtles are famous centenarians. This is 176-year-old Hariette from the zoo in Queensland (Australia). It is believed that Charles Darwin personally found Gariette in 1835 on one of the Galapagos Islands. Hariette died in the same 2006.
Cats and dogs are man's favorite pets, and among them there are many record holders who have remained with their owners for many years. There are horses, fish and long-lived turtles.
The oldest cats
As you know, cats rarely live more than twenty years. Even twenty years is a record age for them. It is known about a cat whose age is already more than forty years old. She lives in the UK. This is the most common cat named Lucy. She got into the house of her current owners by accident, passing as an inheritance after the death of a relative. Lucy sees almost nothing, it is difficult for her to move around the house. The owners noticed that she was deaf.The fact that the cat is at least forty years old, the new owners learned when an elderly relative came to visit them. Back in 1972, according to the old woman, Lucy hung around near her fish store. After examining the record holder cat by a veterinarian, it became clear that Lucy was indeed extremely old. Nobody can determine her exact age. It remains to believe an elderly woman who has known Lucy since 1972. Translating a solid cat age to human age, we can say that she is already one hundred and eighty years old. More than forty years old Lucy can be called an amazing fact. Since the cat has no official documents, it is impossible to enter this record into the Guinness Book of Records.
Cream Puff was the name of the cat, which before Lucy was considered the oldest in the world. He lived in Texas. His age was thirty-eight. In third place among long-lived cats is Blackie from the UK. Her owner Quentin Shaw said that he took her into the house when she was very young, but now she is already twenty-four years old. Blackie has had three litters in her lifetime, and she has outlived all of her children. Now this cat, according to her owner, is completely healthy, but has become less playful and active. The owners of record-breaking cats believe that the pets have lived such a long life because of their love and care.
There is a long-lived record holder among two-headed cats. These animals are known to have a very short lifespan. "Frank and Louie" is the name given to her two-headed cat by a Massachusetts veterinary clinic nurse. According to her, the previous owners brought him to the clinic to put him to sleep, but she persuaded them to give the animal to her. Today this unusual cat is twelve years old.
The oldest dogs
The maximum age of a dog, which was officially certified by the Guinness Book of Records, was twenty-nine years. An Australian shepherd dog named Bluey lived for so many years. The record-breaking dog was born in America in 1910. For almost twenty years he tended cattle, never fought and ate exclusively natural feed. The owner of Bluey just explained such a long life of the pet. The record holder died in November 1939. Despite the fact that the dog went blind a year before his death, this did not affect his playfulness and activity. 
It is known about a dachshund named Chanel. She lived for twenty-one years. At one time, the dog moved with the owner from Rhode Island to New York. The name of this dachshund is also listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
Today, the twenty-two-year-old Yorkshire terrier Billy has the title of long-lived dog. He lives in Halifax with his 71 year old owner. The dog is blind in one eye, he lacks several teeth, nevertheless he likes to frolic like a puppy.
The oldest horses
There are animals-record holders among horses. The oldest horse in the world is recognized as a simple horse named "Old Billy". She was born in an English village in 1760. The average age of a horse is about twenty-five years old, Old Billy managed to live a life of sixty-two years. 
Today's record holder lives in the UK - a horse named Shane. As you know, she is already fifty-one years old, but she feels great and leads an active lifestyle. Her place of residence is the Remus Memorial Horse Sanctuary. The previous record holder died in 2004 at the age of fifty-one. It was an Arabian horse named Badger.
Long-lived fish
You will not surprise anyone with a hundred-year-old pike or a seventy-year-old sturgeon. Nevertheless, there are long-lived fish that break all records. It is known that in 1230 in Germany, the court pike of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa was released into the lake. In 1497, it was accidentally caught by fishermen. By that time, she was over three hundred years old, and this court pike weighed as much as one hundred and forty kilograms. 
In Sweden, an eel named Patty lived in the aquarium of one of the museums. The fish was caught in the Sargasso Sea at the age of three. In the museum's aquarium, Patti lived for a long eighty-five years. She died at eighty-eight of old age. There are especially many centenarians among large fish, but aquarium small fish are also known, whose life expectancy is close to forty years.
The oldest animal in the world today
Scientists consider the tortoise named Jonathan to be the longest-lived animal on earth today. It is known that he is already over one hundred and seventy-eight years old. The record holder lives in the South Atlantic on the island of St. Helena. The first photo of Jonathan was taken back in 1900. Since then, photo sessions have been held every fifty years. Thanks to this, you can see how the animal has changed. 
The longest-lived creature on Earth, according to research scientists, is a mollusk, which was discovered in the waters of the Arctic in 1982. At that time, the mollusk was at least two hundred and twenty years old. This record is noted in the Guinness Book of Records.
A long-lived mollusk, whose age at the time of its discovery was approximately four hundred years old, was found in 2006 off the Icelandic coast. He was given the nickname "Ming". For four whole centuries, Ming lived in complete darkness at a depth of eighty meters. His age was determined by the lines on the shell. Unfortunately, this record-breaking clam died of old age during the study, however, research on its shell continues.
Long-livers are not only animals. Some old people are also surprised. For example, according to the site, the oldest Olympic champion in history was 72 years old.
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10
African elephants are the largest land centenarians and can live from 60 to 80 years. The oldest elephant died at the age 86 years old in 2003.
9
The New Zealand long-finned river eel is a long-lived fish. A case is known when a female lived to 106 year old age and weighed 24 kilograms. These fish are slower than other eels, adding in growth, increasing by only 1-2 cm per year.
8
Native to Central America, Mexico, South America and the Caribbean, the colorful and showy macaw can live up to 100 years. The oldest macaw on record is a blue and yellow parrot named Charlie who lived 111 years old. Like humans, the average lifespan of most blue and golden macaws is approximately 60-80 years. They are very friendly and sociable. In the wild, they live in groups, but in captivity they become close to people and become a full-fledged member of the family. Since their lifespan is so long and they can easily outlive a human, the owner of such a bird should write their beloved pet in their will so that it will be taken care of in the event of the death of the owner.
7
Sea urchins are one of the most ancient creatures: they appeared in the Paleozoic era. Now there are about 800 species of sea urchins. But the red sea urchin, which lives in shallow waters off the western coast of America, is also known for being the most respected long-liver. Studying sea urchins, it turned out that they grow slowly and evenly, but they almost never stop growing. And so biologists make a sensational assumption: sea urchins can be immortal. Because the largest - and therefore the most "adult" - specimens do not show any signs of aging. Sea urchins are now known, whose age about 200 years, and this may not be the limit at all. Moreover, it is not clear how long a sea urchin could live if he lived a quiet life, without the need to run away from predators and fishermen on needles-stilts.
6
About 200 years ago, this mammal was found throughout the Arctic Ocean. To date, their numbers have drastically decreased. Now it can be found in the Chukchi, Bering and East Siberian seas, rarely in the Beaufort Sea. In the west of the Arctic Ocean, it occurs in the northern part of the Barents Sea and near Franz Josef Land and Svalbard. Known 211 year old bowhead whale. The reason for such a long lifespan is apparently due to their habitat: low water temperature and, accordingly, slow metabolism.
5
The koi carp is a species of beautiful domesticated carp that is bred to be kept in garden ponds for ornamental purposes. Koi varieties vary in size, pattern, and scale color. The most common colors are black, white, yellow, cream, blue and yellow. Age is determined in the same way as in trees: by the number of rings located on the scales of most fish. Thanks to this method, the age of the oldest koi carp, Hanako, who died at the age of 226 years old.
4
The lifespan of turtles depends on many factors: their size, place and living conditions, the presence of predators around. The life span of animals that live in captivity significantly exceeds the life span of naturalists, that is, animals that were born and raised in nature far from humans. In zoos and nurseries, the turtle is protected from predators, and in case of illness or injury, medical attention will be immediately provided to it. Most turtles die in the first years of their lives, and sometimes even without being born, precisely from predators. The record holder among long-lived turtles is Samira, she lived 270-315 years.
3
Greenland sharks are one of the slowest sharks. Their average speed is 1.6 km/h, and the maximum speed is 2.7 km/h, which is half the maximum speed of seals. Therefore, scientists have long wondered how these clumsy fish are able to hunt faster prey. There is evidence that the polar Greenland sharks lie in wait for sleeping seals. The Greenland shark is recognized by scientists as the longest-lived vertebrate species. Biologists believe that the animal is able to live about 500 years. Females reach sexual maturity at 150 years of age.
2
In October 2007, researchers at Bangor University in Wales determined that a clam fished off the Icelandic coast was between 405 and 410 years old. The age was determined by the method of sclerochronology, that is, by drilling the shell and counting the number of its layers (similar to the dendrochronology method for trees). It was later confirmed that the maximum lifespan of this species exceeds 500 years. This age makes the clam the longest-lived animal with a confirmed maximum age. The record holder for life expectancy among them was recognized as a specimen named Ming, whose age was determined in 507 years.
1
Jellyfish Turritopsis Nutricula can rightly be considered immortal creature. This animal, having reached maturity, settles to the bottom and turns into a polyp covered with a chitinous cuticle. Then, buds form on the polyp under the cuticle, in which future jellyfish are formed. The most interesting thing is that such metamorphoses are repeated countless times, and the death of this creature is possible only if it is eaten by other predators. Initially, Turritopsis Nutricula jellyfish lived in the Caribbean, but gradually began to expand their habitat. Now this jellyfish can be found in almost all seas of the tropical and temperate zones.