Professor Karen Healey, at the University of Queensland has shown an impressive correlation between specific traits and the life span of an animal. The blue dots on the graph represent animals that can fly, and they have a much higher lifespan than other land-dwelling animals. There are some exceptions to this, such as the Piec Kingfisher which has a much lower lifespan than other flying animals around its weight.
Weight of the animal in question has also been shown to have a big influence on an animals life. Animals such as the African Elephant live for a very long time, while animals such as the forest shrew don't live for very long at all.
Overall the graph is very interesting to look at and hypothesize on why some animals live as long as they do.
Natures of Science
Evidence
Curiosity
Repeatability
Link: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fly-more-live-longer
I think that it is understandable how flying animals have longer lifespans. It is easier for them to spot and escape predators if they are out in the open air. I think that it is more surprising that their is a correlation between lifespan and body weight. It seems that most animals would have to struggle to survive predators regardless of their size. For example, early carnivorous dinosaurs would prey on herbivores much larger in size.
ReplyDeleteYour post made me very curious so I did some research to find out more. I found this article that explains that all bird species eventually reach a point of "old age" just as humans do. As a species reaches this old age point, their annual risk of dying, then, goes up. In every species, the "old age" point varies greatly. Some live for 80 years while others only live for 20.
ReplyDeleteRead More: http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/How_Long.html
I agree with Blake. The larger a species is, there are less predators after it for obvious reasons. With the advancement of humans, this is less true. Humans are able to kill any animal on the Earth, no matter the size. Naturally a blue whale is supposed to live over 80 years but with illegal hunting it is actually somewhere in the 40s.
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