THREE FRIENDS

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 30, 29 October 1932, Page 19

THREE FRIENDS

kept for the purpose, so we know the age of prize horses, cattle, and so on. But, if they remained in a wild state, they might live much longer. The prize for the land animals has to be given to the tortoise. This animal lives under favourable conditions, for between three hundred and four hundred years. One died at the zoo in 1906 which was stated to be at least three hundred and fifty, years of age. The crocodile, given fair play in its native wilds, can live for three hundred years. If we believed all the stories we read we should have to say that the toad lives far longer than this, for we are often told that it can be shut up in a rock, or a tree, or in a piece of coal, and grow fat on nothing, a close prisoner for thousands of years. That, of course, is sheer nonsense. It takes an elephant a long time to grow up, and it takes him a long time to wear out. Well treated, he should live to be a hundred. That is the age to which the eagle is supposed to live, but some people put down the age he may reach as two humired, years. Even that is young compared with the life of a whale. This can be shown to last for five hundred years. Indeed, some whales that have been caught are believed to be a thousand years old. In the following tables the extreme ages of animals like the whale and eagle and tortoise are not given. The tables merely set out the ages to which certain animals often live. Rabbit, 5 years; sheep, 12 yearsj cat, 13 years; dog, 15 years; goat, 15 years, cow, 25 years: pig, 25 years; horse, 27 years; camel, 40 years; lion, 40 years; elephant, 100 years; crocodile, 300 years. It will be noticed that many animals live longer than we do, as it is very rare for man to reach the age of one hundred.