The average life expectancy for a human being on Planet Earth is 70 years. A lot can happen in that time: A person (or replicant) can feel like they’ve lived forever, seen attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion and all that. But an ocean quahog — a type of clam– is the creature with the longest lifespan in the world, could witness almost 6 generations of human life if it had eyes. This chart of the 10 animals with the longest lifespans puts it all in perspective:
Bad news for these animals, though: humans regularly eat most of them, including the ocean quahog. Ming the Clam, the oldest individual animal ever recorded, was 507 when scientists accidentally killed it. So while they might be able to outlive us, we won’t let them. Humans rule!
(Photo: Jessica Langlois)
