Binding: Paperback
Description: Stories of long - lived animal species from thousand - year - old tubeworms to 400 - year - old sharks and what they might teach us about human health and longevity. Opossums in the wild don t make it to the age of three; our pet cats can live for a decade and a half; cicadas live for seventeen years (spending most of them underground). Whales however can live for two centuries and tubeworms for several millennia. Meanwhile human life expectancy tops out around the mid - eighties with some outliers living past 100 or even 110. Is there anything humans can learn from the exceptional longevity of some animals in the wild? In Methusaleh's Zoo Steven Austad tells the stories of some extraordinary animals considering why for example animal species that fly live longer than earthbound species and why animals found in the ocean live longest of all. Austad the leading authority on longevity in animals argues that the best way we will learn from these long - lived animals is by studying them in the wild. Accordingly he proceeds habitat by habitat examining animals that spend most of their lives in the air comparing insects birds and bats; animals that live on and under the ground from mole rats to elephants; and animals that live in the sea including quahogs carp and dolphins. Humans have dramatically increased their lifespan with only a limited increase in healthspan; we re more and more prone to diseases as we grow older. By contrast these species have successfully avoided both environmental hazards and the depredations of aging. Can we be more like them?
Title: Methuselah's Zoo What Nature Can Teach Us About Living Longer Healthier Lives
Author(s): Austad Steven N.
Publisher: Mit Press Ltd
Barcode: 9780262547178
Pages: 320 Pages, 22 Black And White Illus.
Publication Date: 8/15/2023
Category: Biology, Life Sciences