Animal Kingdom Lifespans
For the microscopic lab worm C elegans, life comes to an end in a few short weeks. Contrastingly, tortoises can live more than 100 years and the bowhead whale, Earth’s longest lived mammal, death can come after 200. Like most living things, animals begin to degenerate after reaching sexual maturity, driven by cell death and dysfunction. So why the wild variances in animal kingdom lifespans? The answer lies in several factors, including body size and environment. Narrator Addison Anderson explains in this episode of Ted-Ed.
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