The folks at Did You Know? have compiled a long list of average life expectancies of many, many animals. Including everything from ants (1-3yrs) to humans (70-80yrs) to the Galapagos land tortoise (193yrs!) Get ready to spend some time going through the list, with some surprising lifespans!
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by 
Edward
I am sorry to be a naysayer, but of the animals I have just researched, the list is wrong. The AKC does not list any breed as having a lifespan as long as 22 years. Nor can I find a site that lists the domestic cat at 25 years. This causes me to question the entire list.
Kathy
Cats don’t live to 25 years, only a handful of cats have ever lived that long.
LisaL
My DH’s uncle has a cat that is over 20yo. I’m not sure exactly how old but I know over 20.
Poor thing is missing most of its teeth and is deaf, but still healthy for the most part lol.
Anywho… very interesting list. Didn’t know swans had the potential of living that long. Very cool.
Holly
It’s too bad this is completely inaccurate because that would be a really interesting thing to know.
Mark in Vancouver
Yeah, this list is way off, and I suspect it was entirely made up. I agree with Holly – could have been great, but was just annoying.
BikerRay
Also… horse at 40? Pretty rare; 25 might be a better average. Cat, dog, horse all appear to be record maximums, which makes the rest of the list useless.
angstrom
*snort* this is supposedly the “average lifespan” of these animals. A carp is listed as 100 year average lifespan. Hmmm. Strange that this page says
The usual longevity of the carp is 9–15 years; maximum observed longevity is 47 years.
http://www.answers.com/topic/common-carp
Even more ridiculous. How about the purported 102 year average of the swan?
well, rather than 102 you ought to think seven. Yes, seven years
http://www.swan-trust.org/mute_swan.htm
the original article is a little bit “fact light” eh?
Mr. Jones
Keep in mind that they are claiming that these figures are “averages”, meaning that there are a wide range of figures ABOVE and below these numbers.
Seriously, I’m retarded when it comes to math, and I noticed this.
Neat-O – when you post stuff like this, it makes you look stupid, too.
ted
Does it really matter? We’ll all be dead in three years, anyway.
2012 – mark your calendars.
Mr. Jones
ted:
Is it midnight 2011 or midnight 2012?
I need to know because I have some home projects I’ve been procrastinating.
Jess
Many species will have a very different life spans in the wild vs in captivity.
Perhaps the list should have focused on maximums or realistic life expectancies in the wild.
Also, the figure for the Galapagos land tortoise can’t possibly be accurate if it’s an average considering that the majority of hatchlings don’t even make it past infancy. These wouldn’t be considered outliers either considering that most hatchlings will meet this fate (poor babies). The same goes with many of the species mentioned.
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