Expected Lifespan: One year The paedophyrne amanuensis is one of the shortest-living animals and the smallest vertebrate in the world. While individual breeds and members of a species tend to live longer the smaller they are, the larger species tend to live longer than smaller ones.
The dainty mayfly, an insect found worldwide in clean freshwater habitats, lives for just one or two days, the shortest lifespan of any known animal. They don't even have mouths as they feed in the air.
Some confirmed sources estimate bowhead whales to have lived at least to 211 years of age, making them the oldest mammals. Rougheye rockfish can reach an age of 205 years. Specimens of the Red Sea urchin Strongylocentrotus franciscanus have been found to be over 200 years old.
200 years: Bowhead Whale lifespan - the longest living mammal.
The 'immortal' jellyfish, Turritopsis dohrnii
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.
Some fish, such as some varieties of sturgeon and rougheye rockfish, and some tortoises and turtles are thought to be negligibly senescent, although recent research on turtles has uncovered evidence of senescence in the wild.
#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.
How long do jellyfish live? Most jellyfish live less than one year, and some some of the smallest may live only a few days. Each species has a natural life cycle in which the jellyfish form is only part of the life cycle (see video clip showing different life cycle stages).
Regenerating flatworms
This apparently limitless regeneration also applies to aging and damaged tissue, allowing the worms to cheat death indefinitely, according to a study at the University of Nottingham.
Microscopic grains of dead stars are the oldest known material on the planet — older than the moon, Earth and the solar system itself.
He is a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo, a livestock guardian dog with an average life expectancy of 12 to 14 years. Now he's the world record holder for oldest living dog. But originally, Bobi wasn't supposed to live long at all.
The life expectancy of a housefly is generally 15 to 30 days and depends upon temperature and living conditions. Flies dwelling in warm homes and laboratories develop faster and live longer than their counterparts in the wild. The housefly's brief life cycle allows them to multiply quickly if left uncontrolled.
A queen ant Lasius niger (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) has the longest recorded adult life of any insect: 28¾ years in captivity.
A comparable study on chimpanzees found that bees had the worst memory, with a recall duration of just 2.5 seconds. Also earning bees a spot on the list of top 10 animals with the worst memory in the world.
Although there are several species among many groups of insects that exist for only a few days as adults, the shortest adult reproductive life belongs to the female of the mayfly Dolania americana (Ephemeroptera) which lives for less than five minutes after its final molt.
They found that, on average, male European lobsters live to 31 years old, and females to 54. There were a few exceptions: one female had reached 72 years old. Lobsters certainly do not live forever.
Snakes reach sexual maturity within two to four years, depending on the species and living conditions. In perfect conditions, adult snakes live anywhere from 20 to 30 years, with natural predators and the encroachment of humans severely limiting the number of years most snakes live.
Three-toed sloths are some of the slowest and seemingly laziest creatures in the world. Instead of evolving to eat more, they evolved to do less.
In the world of animal models, naked mole rats are the supermodels. They rarely get cancer, are resistant to some types of pain, and can survive up to 18 minutes without oxygen. But perhaps their greatest feat, a new paper suggests, is that they don't age.
The ocean quahog is a fist-size clam that can live to be 500 years or older. Some researchers believe the sturdy quahog's secret to a long life is its ability to protect its proteins from damage.
Dogs, cats, goats and some rodents have all been found to have the “love hormone” in ways resembling that of humans. Animals may also create long-term attachment and dedication to a mate by traveling, defending territory and searching for food as a team.
For example insects, arachnids and crustaceans don't feel any type of emotion.
Gibbons. gibbons (family Hylobatidae) Edmund Appel/Photo Researchers, Inc. These agile tree-dwelling apes act like humans in that they occasionally cheat on their mates, sometimes break up, and later get back together again.