Excerpted from Robert Whitcomb's Aug. 18 Digital Diary column.
Does the Greenland shark have lessons for us? Scientists have discovered that these creatures, deepwater predators, are apparently the longest-living vertebrates. Researchers studied 28 of them. One was about 400 years old. Cold water is apparently good for longevity!
Sounds heartening. On the other hand, these very slow-growing creatures don’t have sex until they’re about 150. Perhaps of more importance/hope to us mammals is that a fellow mammal – a bowhead whale – was estimated to be 211 and that that species starts having sex in its early teens….
