LONGEVITY IN ANIMALS

Evening Star, Issue 22689, 1 July 1937, Page 4

LONGEVITY IN ANIMALS

ELEPHANT'S 170 YEARS TORTOISES “GOOD FOR. CENTURIES " The age limit of animals, like that of our own species, is a subject that will never cease to excite interest, and the matter has lately been brought into prominence by ’Mr Guy Dollman, of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington, who gives an instance of an Asiatic elephant living for 170 years. The elephant in question, mentioned in a translation of Joao Ribeiro’s ‘Ceilao,’ by Dr Pieris (1925), appears to have, been adult prior to the seige of Colombo in 1566. . The animal, “ Ortala,” commanded by its size, strength, and sagacity. such respect that" it was spared when all other animals •" were eaten during the protracted . seige, and lived under ■ the Dutch conquerors for nearly a century and ' a-half. As Mr Dollman rightly .'says, the case is “very astonishing.” The elephant’s age can be roughly determined by its teeth, but there have been previously no authentic instances of these animals even approaching Ortela’s longevity. The late P. G. Sanderson, one of the greatest authorities on the Asiatic elephant, instances an animal, caught_ as a three-year-old baby in 1805, and in its prim© 71 years later. He expressed the belief that elephants might live for a century and a-half, a view shared by a few native hunters who, however, admit the normal life span to be 80 years. AGE AND SIZE. A wide survey of animals’ known ages seems to suggest that there is a certain correlation between longevity and size. As a rule, the larger th© body machine the longer is takes to wear out. Here, again, however, generalisation is dangerous. Little is known of the life span of oetacians, the largest of all living animals. Many large reptiles are invariably looked upon as far exceeding the human limit, George, the Zoo’s largest alligator, for example, though definitely known to be not more than about 40 years old, is persistently represented in the Press as being over a century, no authoritative statement to the contrary serving to dispel this cherished illusion. The few remaining giant tortoises are however,/in a different category. One still living at St. Helena is known to have shared that island with Napoleon in his exile, and the animal, lately seen by Dr Philip Gosse, appeared to be in full enjoyment of his faculties—such as they are—and to be, in common parlance, “ good for centuries.”—‘ Observer.’ ,