Daily Archives: April 16, 2014

A pair of prairie dogs are pictured on display at the Washington National Zoo.Reuters

Bigger is better

"Large animals live longer for two main reasons," zoologist Kevin Healy of Trinity College Dublin told Discovery News. "The first one is that to be large you need more time and resources for growth so it follows you must live longer just to achieve getting large. The second reason is that, once large, an animal is often shielded from many external causes of death such as predators (too big to tackle) or food shortages (as large animals can store large fat reserves)." Healy led the latest research concerning longevity in birds and mammals. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Mature slowly

Animals that take a while to reach sexual maturity tend to have longer overall lives. Bowhead whales mature slowly and can live 221 years. Smaller and faster maturing pygmy whales bite the dust much earlier. Humans mature relatively slowly, reaching sexual maturity at about age 12 or 13.

Go underground to avoid problems

Burrowing animals tend to live longer than non-burrowing ones, the study found. Healy explained, "burrowing is an extremely effective means to escape predators both as it is hard to detect burrowing animals and also to have access to them. Burrowing might also help animals in bad weather, such as in cold temperatures, or (serve) as safe storage areas when food is running short."

Forage in the trees

When looking for dinner, foraging in trees helps to ward off threats. Food such as fruit is also relatively easy to obtain. An individual just needs to find it and eat it. Edible tubers, on the other hand, require more of energy investment to locate them and to dig them out.

Specialize in day living

See the rest here:
10 ways animals live longer