New-York tribune., 1912-03-10
ANIMALS AND LONGEVITY
With the Majority the Age Limit
Is About Thirty Years.


The death of the London Zoos giant
python from senile decay reminds The
London Standard" that the woes and dis
abilities Of old age exist in the mysterious
world OF animals as they do with men.
How long must a python live before It can
become a patriarchal python. and what is
the span OF years required for an electric
eel 10 parallel the bald and toothless stage
Of man?
The case OF the python, unfortunately.
gives us little light. He has lived fourteen
years In the Zoo but then he was fully ma
ture when he entered. and our representa-
tive was informed at the Gardens he may
have lived fifty years or a hundred years,
or even more. in a free state before coming
TO pass the autumn OF his days in Regents
Park. Surprisingly little Is known Of the
normal lfetmes OF wild creatures. Ant
mails do not have annual rings, like trees
such creatures as Wild lions and tigers are
not favorable to observation over prolonged
periods. and. Of course. the ages reached by
creatures in captivity may be very different
from the maximum in a wild state.
However II seems clear that with the
great majority Of the larger animals the
age limit Is below thirty years. and often
above twenty. This applies 10 dogs and
horses, asses and zebras. domestic cattle.
girafres, lions. tigers hlppopotami. swine
and the larger mammals generally. Sheep
and deer fall somewhat below this level ;
rats. mice and rabbits very, considerably
below Il while elephants often greatly sur
pass IT, There have been elephants In
India known 10 have been at work for man
for more than eighty years. and centenari-
an elephants are comparatively numerous.
Nevertheless. the average records OF me
nagerie animals place thirty or forty as the
normal age limit and It is probable that
tho popular idea Of the nges reached by
normal elephants is exaggerated.
Whales have the laugh on elephants by =
very considerable margin. The kind that
supply whalebone are believed to start life
with reasonable prospect Of several cen.
are not cut of In the bud at the age OF l5C
or 30 Water, particularly salt water
seems 10 cOnduce 10 longevity. There are
gigantic mussels and oysters whose age II
assumed 10 be comparable only with that
OF the Cape Verde baObab tree and the
big tree ~ California, which live for I'VE
thousand years. Indeed. there appears ne
particular reason why musscs should eve.
DIE though II * also true that. consider
ing the rOft Of life a inussel leads, ther.
seems no particular reason why IL should
ever have lived.
Sea anemoncs. again, delicate and sens
tive though they look when we zee them
in our rock pools, NAV attain great age.
Sir John Dalyell. a Scottish naturalist
captured In lS2S sea anemone Of the liver
cClored sort so common around our shores
Its age was then estimated at seven years
II nourished I'm Edinburgh until 1887, and
was Just attaining a vigorous and sober
maturity when. from some unknown cause,
Il was cut off in its prime. Eels have lived
In captivity for sixty wears; the age o.
some venerable salmon has been estimated
at one hundred. carp live to be one nun
drad and nifty and there have been pike
whose age was estimated at two hundred
years
Scme OF the sacred crocodilcs OF India
again, are said 10 be over hundred. and
vast estimates have been made OF the ages
tainly there was TIL recently (and may be
stilD a tortoise IN the garden of the Gov
ernor of Cape Town which came there
eighty years ago, and was believed to he
one hundred and twenty years old when Il
arrived.
ON the whole. and with recognition OF size
as determining factor. tho choice APP
rears 10 lie between short life and q
merry one or linked dulness long drawr
out II Won whirl about singing and dan
cling and improving each shining minute
richtincales YOU die Of senility AT the agt
of eight But q creature like tortoise
that can sit and do nothing for days on eiT
save wink its eye once. may watch the rise
end fall OF dynastles. and feel no older al
the end OF II.