Why do different organisms have different life spans?
While, with some exceptions, larger mammals outlive smaller ones, that’s mostly because large mammals have more protection for their bodies. In the wild, large mammals had slowly evolved to their size, so they’re ready for it.
Large house dogs had been forcefully bred to their size, and their bodies aren’t ready for it, so they’ll get hip dysplasia or other illnesses, and die young.
In the wild, small mammals also have short lifespans because they’re easy for larger mammals to catch and eat.
Humans only have bodies and genetics built to live for about 30 years, but we’d figured out how to stop most illnesses that were killing us off many years ago. We don’t hear of many getting the full Black Plague these days (which was spread mostly by flea bites), which happened three times and kept the lifespan down, back then, but we know how to stop it, now.
Animals can’t study themselves as we do.
Findings show that if certain proteins are being selected by evolution to change in long-lived mammals like humans and elephants, then it is possible that these species have optimized pathways that repair molecular damage, compared to shorter-lived animals,
While, with some exceptions, larger mammals outlive smaller ones, that’s mostly because large mammals have more protection for their bodies. In the wild, large mammals had slowly evolved to their size, so they’re ready for it.
Large house dogs had been forcefully bred to their size, and their bodies aren’t ready for it, so they’ll get hip dysplasia or other illnesses, and die young.
In the wild, small mammals also have short lifespans because they’re easy for larger mammals to catch and eat.
Humans only have bodies and genetics built to live for about 30 years, but we’d figured out how to stop most illnesses that were killing us off many years ago. We don’t hear of many getting the full Black Plague these days (which was spread mostly by flea bites), which happened three times and kept the lifespan down, back then, but we know how to stop it, now.
Animals can’t study themselves as we do.
Findings show that if certain proteins are being selected by evolution to change in long-lived mammals like humans and elephants, then it is possible that these species have optimized pathways that repair molecular damage, compared to shorter-lived animals,
