Body size vs. life span
Jose_LER
09 Oct 2014
There is any evidecen between the body size of the living being and the life span?
I ask that because I've just read that a whale can live longer than a human and an insect live much more less.
corb
09 Oct 2014
Turtles still live longer than any mamal.
Some birds also can reach extreme age.
Jose_LER
09 Oct 2014
As general the bigger species live longer.
I mean that it exists a strong correlation between the size of the animal and the life span. I don't mean that is correct in 100% of the cases, but it exists a strong relation.
Turtles still live longer than any mamal.
Some birds also can reach extreme age.
As I've said to seivtcho, there is not 100% evidence of that, but there is a strong relation. Usually the bigger the animal the more it lives.
Some years ago I read in a old book an author that made some observations in the size of the animal and the electrical characteristics of that animal.
He observed that the bigger the animal, the more complex it was its electrical characteristics.
Jose_LER
09 Oct 2014
Yup, there are always exceptions from the rule...
Yes, but if you compare the life span of a small animals and big animals you'll usually see a relation because the bigger the animal the more it lives and viceversa.
corb
09 Oct 2014
As I've said to seivtcho, there is not 100% evidence of that, but there is a strong relation. Usually the bigger the animal the more it lives.
Some queen insects can live for decades.
Bears live to up to 30ish years.
Even if there's a corelation between size and longevity it's probably an indirect one.
Or it could be the other way around - they live longer so they have evolved to get bigger and more robust, because the bigger more durable specimens of their kind survived the enviromental factors for longer and recreated a greater ammount of times.
Jose_LER
09 Oct 2014
As I've said to seivtcho, there is not 100% evidence of that, but there is a strong relation. Usually the bigger the animal the more it lives.
Some queen insects can live for decades.
Bears live to up to 30ish years.
Even if there's a corelation between size and longevity it's probably an indirect one.
Or it could be the other way around - they live longer so they have evolved to get bigger and more robust, because the bigger more durable specimens of their kind survived the enviromental factors for longer and recreated a greater ammount of times.
The only way to exactly know the percentage of correlation would be to perform a quantitative analysis including life span, weight and density. Of course, line is non-linear so there will be exceptions as you mention. The main interesting thing here is to know that percentage. Is not the same 60% than 90%,
Edited by Jose_LER, 09 October 2014 - 04:26 PM.
