Researchers believe the record for shortest adult life span belongs to the female mayfly called Dolania americana. After spending a year or more living on the bottom of a stream in its aquatic nymph form, it emerges as a flying adult — and lives for less than five minutes.
According to the longevity records, a comprehensive database of animal lifespans, the shortest living of all the mammals is the Muller's Giant Sunda Rat.
The Sign Eviota, Eviota sigillata, a tiny coral reef fish, completes its entire life cycle within an eight week period. This species has the shortest lifespan of any vertebrate.
Lobsters and crabs have teeth— in their stomachs. These are used to crush its food, but they also have a strange secondary function in ghost crabs: making a noise that wards off predators.
Why the ostrich is the only living animal with four kneecaps.
#1: Mayfly — The Shortest Lifespan of Any Known Animal
These insects are the shortest living animals on the planet, as the adult lifespan of a fly from this species is only 24 hours.
The common shrew has a very short lifespan and it is rare for a member of that species to live for more than 12 months. Mice have the shortest lifespan of a mammal at an average of 4 years.
To date, there's only one species that has been called 'biologically immortal': the jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii. These small, transparent animals hang out in oceans around the world and can turn back time by reverting to an earlier stage of their life cycle.
They take water from their prey. Elephants can go up to 4 days without water but they can also use their trunks and tusks to dig wells if necessary. Elephants tend to stay near water sources but they can smell water from five kilometres away. Giraffes can actually last up to 21 days (3 weeks) without a drink.
Scorpions are organisms which can hold their breath for up to even 6 days. Scorpions are called arachnids, which are members of the animal kingdom's arachnid class. Their modified lungs, which are known as book lungs, also allow them to hold their breath for long.
Flatworms, nematodes, and cnidarians (jellyfish, sea anemones, and corals) do not have a circulatory system and thus do not have blood. Their body cavity has no lining or fluid within it.
Lithobates catesbeianus is an animal that cannot sleep.
Can you guess what animals might have blue blood? Lobsters, crabs, pillbugs, shrimp, octopus, crayfish, scallops, barnacles, snails, small worms (except earthworms), clams, squid, slugs, mussels, horseshoe crabs, most spiders. None of these animals have backbones. Some of these animals are Mollusks, like the snails.
The Patient Pachyderm
Elephants are the largest land mammals in the world, so it's perhaps not surprising that they have the longest pregnancy of any living mammal: African elephants are pregnant for an average of 22 months, whilst for Asian elephants it's 18 to 22 months.
Mayflies only live for 24 hours and hold the record for the shortest living life cycle on earth. This might be good news to anyone who hates bugs, but not all bugs have short lifespans. There are a few bugs that can live for years, even decades.
Flat-faced dog breeds, including French Bulldogs and Pugs, have the shortest life expectancy, a new study has found. According to vets at the Royal Veterinary College, brachycephalic dogs don't live as long due to the increased risk of breathing problems, skin fold infections and spinal disease they face.
Cockroaches are infamous for their tenacity, and are often cited as the most likely survivors of a nuclear war. Some even claim that they can live without their heads. It turns out that these armchair exterminators (and their professional brethren) are right. Headless roaches are capable of living for weeks.
The shortest known gestation is that of the Virginian opossum, about 12 days, and the longest that of the Indian elephant, about 22 months.
All other known millipedes Millipedes sport far fewer legs than their name implies, with many species having fewer than 100 legs. Until now, the record-holder was a species called Illacme plenipes, a deep-soil dweller known to have as many as 750 legs.
Despite the name, centipedes can have a varying number of legs, ranging from 30 to 382. Centipedes always have an odd number of pairs of legs; no centipede has exactly 100. Like spiders and scorpions, centipedes are predominantly carnivorous.
Answer: MANY animals can't walk backwards, such as elephants, and MOST birds.
Sturdy turtles
Slow and steady really does win the race. Turtles have been known to live for centuries, and researches have found that their organs don't seem to break down over time. The New York Times reports that turtles might even be able to live indefinitely if they are able to avoid predators and disease.
While mammals and birds possess the prerequisite neural architecture for phenomenal consciousness, it is concluded that fish lack these essential characteristics and hence do not feel pain.