Why do some animals live much shorter lifespans than humans and others much longer? What determines the lifespan on an animal?
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Interestingly, there is a general trend that larger species have longer lifespans, but within one species, the smaller the specimen, the longer the lifespan. There are, as always, exceptions.
The former half of this statement is about metabolic activity vs size–little critters are all hopped up on the gogo juice. The latter half–well, I’m not really sure.
You all have seen lots of examples of big species living longer than smaller species.
My favorite example of differently sized individuals within one species is dogs. Due to human intervention, there is an enormous amount of variation in dog sizes from about 1 pound adult weight all the way up to over 200 pounds. Among dogs, smaller breed dogs have average lifespans (with medical care) of well into their teens whereas giant breed dogs typically are considered elderly at 8 or 9 years of age.
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