Even before modern medicine our life spans were an anomaly in the animal kingdom
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One reason humans have a long life span compared to other mammals is that we have a very efficient immune system. Our immune system is able to keep us healthy and free from disease for a long time. Additionally, we have access to medical care and advances in technology that allow us to live longer and healthier lives.
We are not extremely long living for animals or even mammals. The Bowhead whale can reach over 200 years old. a quahog clam was 507 years old when caught. The Turritopsis dohrnii alos called the immortal jellyfish is potentially immortal.
We are the longest-living land mammal but not the longest-living land animal. Gitans turtles is a well know example of a longer-living land animal. We know for sure a turtle called Jonathan was fully mature in 1882 when he arrived on St Helena and he is still alive. The fully mature is at least 50 so likely born 1832 or earlier.
Prior to the development of modern medicine, average life expectancy in humans was a bit longer than Asian elephants but a bit shorter than African elephants. Evolutionary biologists don’t have a singular and precise theory about life span, but it can be safely assumed that humans’ are atypically long lived for primates for the same reasons sexual maturation in the younger generation also takes longer. Designating causes and effects gets much more difficult than people think, so which *results* in the other isn’t a simplistic issue, and they aren’t necessarily directly related.
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