Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-09-27
Longevity of Animals,
From the London Standard

1ne recent Geatn OF the plack parrot In the
Geological gardens has raised once more the
numerous questions touching the longevity of
the lower animals When the Corocopsis ar
rived from Madagascar it was an adult bird
how old it is impossible to say-and it lived in
Regents Park for f1fty-four years. or somew hat
longer than any other inmate of the place where
its long career was passed. Parrots bear the
reputation of attaining great age though not
improbably this is owing to the fact that being
so commonly kept in captivity their days can be
more easily ascertained than those Of wild
birds. Every one must remember the plaintve
story of Humboldt finding among the Maypures
OF the Orinoco a parrot whose language no.
body understood, for he spoke the tongue of
the Atures, an Indian tribe against whom war
and pestilence had done their worst All day
long this venerable bird sat blinkingfn the sun
light. chattering the pollysyilables of its van
ished masters, and in its person warning the
sayages around Of the fate that might soon over
take them also. The incident is one which ap-
peas to the Imagination. though it would be
easy enough to duplicate 1t from other parts of
the world. 1t was the theme Of poem by Prof
Ernst Curtius long before he was known as the
first OF Greek scholars. "Where," he asks, ''are
now the youth who bred him to pronounce their
mother tongue; where the gentle maids who ted
him and who built his nest when young Swift the
savage turns his rudder, when his eyes the bird
behold. None e'er saw without shudder the
Aturian parrot old" Yet there can be little
doubt but that if the opportunities for Observa-
ton were more frequent it would be discovered
that many birds attain very advanced age
Thousands must die every year. yet it is seldom
that we come across one that has Succumbed to
natural causes. After storm. a severe FROST
or during the progress of one ofthose epdemics
which decimate certain species of animals
the victims may, of course, be frequent
ly met with. But it is singular how
rarely we see any of the numerous migratory or
resident species which can be pronounced to
have succumbed to disease or old age A field
mouse, a shrew. water yole a mole. weasel,
or even bat or rabbit, common as they are.
can hardly ever be seen dead except when there
is strong suspicion of their having fallen vic
tins to one of their many enemies What be-
comes of them? Do they creep into holes and
retired spots when they feel the powers of lite
waning? Or do their companions conceal their
bodies in the earth? Or are their cornses so
speedily devoured by the roaming carnivora
that the opportunity Of seeing them is seldom
yOuchsafed to US?
Be this as it may-and the last hours Of the
lower animals constitute one OF those obscure
corners of natural history which still remain to
be eXplored-we may take it for granted that
no created being enjoys an even approximate
immortality. Every organism must in time run
its course and decay, though. unquestionably,
some OF the simpler tissues are SO readily and
so frequently renewed that 1t is difficult to fix
any limit to their duration. As rule the more
complicated the structure the less the chance
the organism has OF prOlOngng merely vege-
tatiye existence. Many insects, after attaining
their perfect condition. never see a second days
sunlight. These beings, it may he argued, are
somewhat complicated as regards their anatomy
On the other hand. most of the infuSora are so
little differentiated that, like the wheel ami
malculfp, they can be dried up, and revived by
coming in contact With water. Yet several
which have been watched are affirmed to
have ended their career within forty-eight
hours. Animals like the Jelly fish or the
hydra. every individual fragment of which,
no matter how often it is chopped up. is capa-
bic of reproducing the individual must for all
practical purposes, endure forever. The same may
be said for many OF the higher ZOOphytes, which
so long as the simple routine Of their purely
vegetatve existence is permitted to go on run
less chance OF dying than does a tree. which is
always increasing. and liable to hundred acct
dents from which they are exempt. At this
moment there is thriving In an aquarium in
Edinburgh a specimen Of the common sea ane-
none which cannot be- less than between 70 and
80 years Old What was its age when Sir John
Graham Dalyell detached it from the rock we
cannot even guess But since that day it has
seen four masters die-threc of them at more
than middle lifc-and yet it still goes on pro-
duclng generation after generation of young,
and seemingly prepared to continue its simple
functions so long as its fresh beef and its salt
water are secure. How far civilization affects
longevity might be debated. In we-kept
meuagerie there is the minimum of toll, danger
and loss OF tissue. Food is certain, anxiety
there Is none. enemies-against which the wild
animal must be forever WatChful-aTe unknown:
and III their luxurious cages they are safe from
the vicssitudes of weather which are so apt to
;sbridge their years while enjoying that freedom
which is to them a Heritage Of Woe" Indeed
If we except the imminent risk of overlooking
and the lack OF healthy exercise. animals in con-
fnement are subject to nothing which can inter-
fere with their reaching the limits of the exist
enCe possible to their species CO!d-blooded
brutes, such as fishes and reptiles, waste their
tissues slowly, and hence attain very long life
Cr0cOdlleS have been known to live for more
than century; tOrtoiseS quite as AGED are men,
toned by trustworthy writers; carp said to be
biceutenaran swan in some of the Versailles
tanks pike equally venerable are on record and
in the imperial fish ponds of ancient Rome we
hear of iampFeys which had seen sixty summers
Indeed, provided there is no inherited dis
ease, that the tissues are healthy, and the decay
in those essential to vitality slow. there need be
no specified limit to life in these cold -bOoded
beings. The wear and tear Of the organs is
however, much faster among the more vigorous
birds and mammals Yet centcnarian eagles
jackdaWs, ravens and crows have been known
and the parrot whose decease. full of years and
the Affection OF two generations OF children
was lately announced cannot claim singularity
in respect Of its age, since 90 is not uncommon
period for its family to attain. Peacochs rarely
pass 20 years while from to IL is as long as
the average barn-doOr fowl can be kept though
different impression prevails among the eX-
perlenced hdbdtteS Of loW-prictd boarding.
houses. The elephant commonly lives to cen
tury. the camel to about the same are as man. the
horse seldom passes 40. the deer 80 the OK ID to
20, sheep. goats, foxes. hares and rabbits from Z
to 10. and dogs and pigs from 10 to 20 years
Every now and again paragraph goes the
rounds OF the Continental press relating how a
wild goose or a duck has been captured i'm
Pomelania, OF some equally remote part of
Germany, with collar around its neck, the
inscription on which proves that it had been
set at liberty by some Kaiser. or ODER Valid
Controlleur, at any time varying from 1GO
to 2J0 years ago. such tales of wOnder--the
period Tor the dissemination Of which is near at
hand-lnust be received with judiciOus incre-
dulity. 1t is, however, known that the size of
an animal bears no ratio to its longevity Most
of the smaller birds die after five or six years
while the blachbird. goldlinch and canary are
affirmed by Dr. Mchendrck. on what he regards
as authentic data, to live for nearly four times
that brief span Sir Richard Owen has traced
some relation between the life of an animal and
its period OF CESSATION. and the sooner being
attains maturity the sooner it dies. Food, eli
mate. and those individual pecuarities which
the psalmlst sums up by describing them as shy
reason OF more strength" Will no doubt affect
The age OF man and the other animals. and as
these qualities are transmitabe, the tendency
to short life or longevity becomes hereditary.
In Prussia. for example. the average duration
OF life is Is Is years: in SchleSWip- HOStein and