15 animals that are older than your grandparents

Yet people are searching for the secrets of longevity, these animals, birds and fish live peacefully for hundreds of years on our planet. In our list of 14 animals, the old-timers and one immortal being!

George, a giant lobster, weighs approximately 9.1 kg, suggesting that his age of about 140 years. He was caught in 2008 off the coast of Newfoundland. For some time George was the property of the winning City Crab and Seafood in new York, which the lobster was sold for $ 100. However, in 2009, he was released back into the ocean, largely under the influence of the activities of the group defenders of animals PETA.

The tuatara Henry, living at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery in New Zealand, celebrated his 115th birthday. If scientists correctly identified the age of the reptile, that Henry is the same age as al Capone. Interestingly, in 2009, Henry was able to produce offspring with another tuatara named Mildred, who was 111 years old. Indeed, love is for all ages!

Guidace is a type of shellfish that is considered the largest burrowing clams. In addition, guidace and even centenarians: the average lifetime is 146 years old, and the oldest specimens found today — 168.

This is Jonathan, 182-year-old giant tortoise from the island of St. Helena. "He is almost blind, has lost the sense of smell, but he still has good hearing," says the local vet. In their 182 Jonathan may be the oldest living creature on the planet. (Photo Jonathan in the 1900s.)

Jonathan now.

Until recently, the Adelaide zoo lived 83-year-old Flamingo named Greater. The bird arrived at the zoo in the 1930s, survived the attack of the bullies in 2008, but, unfortunately for Australians, was euthanized in January 2014 after her condition deteriorated and treatment stopped to help.

Orange roughy — species of deep sea fishes, which reach sexual maturity after 20 years and can live up to 150 years. This means that the oldest known orange roughy was born around the same year, when Abraham Lincoln was President of the United States.

It is known that red sea urchins live an average of about 200 years. These invertebrates live in the shallow waters off the West coast of America. Sea urchin, through all stages of development to adult in just 1 month, at the age of two years reaches a size of 4 cm, and then annually increases in height by 10 millimeters. Special attention of scientists, these animals were drawn after one of the living population was discovered mark, dated 1805.

Cockatoo Cookie last year celebrated its 80th anniversary. He was captured in 1933 in Australia and arrived at Brookfield zoo (USA) for its opening in 1934. Cookie significantly outlived their relatives: parrots of this species in captivity they live from 40 to 60 years. Since 2009, the parrot has ceased to show, in addition to sporadic appearances in the holidays and celebrate his birthday.

Clam named Ming caught on the Icelandic shelf, according to the first assumptions lived 400 years. Rerun the analysis, scientists determined its age at around 507 years.

Bowhead whales can live up to 200 years. The average life expectancy of this species is about 40 years. However, individuals may live up to 211 years, which is a record among vertebrates.

103-year-old Granny, oldest known orca, is the matriarch of the community orca known as J‑Pod. Her age was calculated in an unusual way. Since it was impossible to investigate using standard methods, the researchers used a method of calculating the reproductive cycle.

The first offspring orcas give 14 years old and no longer give birth at the age of 40 years. The offspring all my life I live with my parents, and this factor has allowed to determine the age of orcas Granny.

Another survivor among the representatives of the turtle — who died in 2006, the 250-year-old Advaita, a giant tortoise from the island of Aldabra. The average weight of such turtles — about 120 pounds. Advaita was very popular with tourists and attracted to the city zoo of the city of Kolkata's many visitors.

In the same 2006, died another giant turtle — 176-year Hariet from a zoo in Queensland (Australia).

It is believed that Hariett found personally by Charles Darwin in 1835 on one of the Galapagos Islands.

Albatross Vizdom, perhaps, the youngest of the members of this list. She was about 63 years. Albatrosses form pairs for life, and Vizdom with his partner raised about 30 Chicks, the latest of which is the 35th according to estimates of the watchers appeared in the winter of this year.

Completing the list of Turritopsis dohrnii. Their other name — the immortal jellyfish. These creatures live in the Mediterranean sea and in the waters of Japan. Their amazing ability to live forever, was discovered accidentally by the student Christian Sommer (Christian Sommer) in 1988. During the summer holidays Christian studied class of water cnidarian invertebrates, whose life cycle includes a jellyfish with a characteristic sign of the velum and the polyp. Sommer kept his findings in Petri dishes and observed their reproduction cycles. After several days he noticed that Turritopsis dohrnii was behaving very unusually, not giving a reasonable explanation. These jellyfish do not die. In other words, they grew up in reverse, becoming younger and younger until it reached an early stage of development, which began its life cycle anew. Later, scientists from Genoa, gulobeva Christian studies, in 1996 he published a paper Reversing the Life Cycle, in which he described the transformation of adult individuals back into polyps, which essentially opens the creatures path of potential immortality. By the way, Turritopsis dohrnii is often called a jellyfish Benjamin Button.