Source: Collective Evolution
What we all know and consider to be our existence is a strange thing. Most tortoises make it to be at least 100 years old, but a mosquito fish is lucky to live just two short years, and mayflies can live and die within 24 hours. African forest elephants have an average life span of about 70 years — almost as long as a human being’s.
Queen fire ants can make it to seven years, yet worker ants are lucky to last 180 days. Life spans seem an unfair and funny thing, but we only know what we know.
James Carey, a biodemography specialist at the University of California, Davis, recently discovered how all these animals’ life spans can let us in on a little secret.
According to Davis, an animals’ life span can help inform humans whether we’ll die young or manage to raise a celebratory glass with other centenarians that outlive even their children.
