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LONG-LIVED ANIMALS NOT NUMEROUS. 



Current stories of long-lived ani- 

 mals, says the New York World, are 

 discredited by Prof. A. D. Peacock, of 

 University College, Dundee, Scotland, 

 in a recent tabulation of the greatest 

 recorded ages of all kinds of animals, 

 made for the British publication, the 

 Wonders of Animal Life, now being 

 issued in London. For the elephant, 

 usually supposed long to outlive man, 

 the longest authentic record which 

 Prof. Peacock has found is 70 years. 

 The maxlmiim attested age for a 

 whale is 40 years. 



Only four creatures are regularly 

 apt to live longer than man. These 

 are the giant tortoise, for which 150- 

 year age is unquestionable, and 200 

 years a probability; the German carp, 

 which may live for 150 years; the 

 white-headed vulture, for one which 

 bird there is a record of 118 years, and 

 the eagle, which has an attested rec- 

 ord of 104 years. Pour other birds, 

 the crow, the parrot, the raven and 

 the eider duck of the Arctic, may live 

 about as long as long-lived men or 

 women, their mj.idmum records being 

 about 100 years 'each. 



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Two fish, the salmon and the shark, 

 probably equal this record; and one 

 variety of shell fish, the giant mussel, 

 called Tridacna gigas. A sea anemone 

 once lived In a zoological laboratory 

 fcf 66 years. The insect record is held 

 by a fire beetle found alive in a piece 

 of wood which the Insect must have 

 entered 37 years before. Ant queens 

 have been known to live for 13 years, 

 but the longest-lived fiea is 18 months. 

 The record louse is 7 weeks, and the 

 housefly, ignoring doubtful cases, 

 lives only 34 days or less. 



A toad is known to have lived for 

 36 years, an alligator for 40, and an 

 eel for 60, The record for a goose Is 

 57 years, and for a hen 30 years. 

 Lions and tigers live only about 25 

 years, but at least one domestic cat 

 lived to be 40. The record age for 

 dogs is 36 years; a horse has lived to 

 be 40 and a cow 25. The shortest of 

 lives are among the Insects, while the 

 winged male of the in.sect called 

 Stylops may live. Prof. Peacock states, 

 for only 1 to 3 hours, although the 

 femal« lives for several days. 



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