The longest-living animal ever reliably dated was an ocean quahog clam named Ming, which was 507 years old when scientists counted its shell rings in 2013. Among vertebrates, the champion is the Greenland shark: a 2016 study estimated one large female at roughly 400 years old, give or take a century, and even the cautious low end makes the species the longest-lived backboned animal known. On land, giant tortoises lead the way — Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise living on the island of St. Helena, is estimated to be over 190 and is the oldest known living land animal. Here’s the full tour of the animal kingdom’s great survivors, from whales to a bat that shouldn’t be possible.
The longest-living animals, ranked
| Rank | Animal | Lifespan (established estimates) | How we know |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Immortal jellyfish | Potentially unlimited | Can revert to its juvenile stage and start over |
| 2 | Glass sponges | Estimated 1,000+ years | Growth-rate dating of deep-sea colonies |
| 3 | Black corals | Estimated 1,000+ years | Radiocarbon dating |
| 4 | Ocean quahog clam | Up to 507 years (Ming) | Annual shell rings, cross-checked with radiocarbon |
| 5 | Greenland shark | Estimated 270–500 years | Radiocarbon dating of eye-lens proteins |
| 6 | Bowhead whale | 200+ years | Eye-lens chemistry; 19th-century harpoon tips found in living whales |
| 7 | Rougheye rockfish | Up to about 200 years | Ear-bone growth rings |
| 8 | Giant tortoises | 150–190+ years | Documented histories; Jonathan, 190+, still living |
| 9 | Tuatara | 100+ years | New Zealand records; one fathered offspring at about 111 |
| 10 | Humans | Up to 122 years verified | The longest-lived land mammal on record |
A few of these records deserve their asterisks explained. Ming’s 507 years is solid — clam shells lay down countable annual rings like tree trunks. The Greenland shark’s age can’t be counted directly, so researchers radiocarbon-dated proteins formed in the eye lens before birth; the famous result was 392 years, plus or minus 120, for the largest female tested. Report it honestly as “at least a couple of centuries, probably around four.” The bowhead whale’s 200+ years rests on two kinds of evidence that agree: eye-lens chemistry, and stone and ivory harpoon points — styles last manufactured in the 1800s — found embedded in whales taken by Alaska Native hunters in the 1990s and 2000s.
And the “immortal” jellyfish? Turritopsis dohrnii really can reverse its life cycle: under stress, an adult can collapse into a blob of cells and regrow as a juvenile polyp, in principle indefinitely. In practice, most get eaten long before immortality comes up. Biology grants no exemptions from predators.
The bat that breaks the rules
One of the strangest longevity records belongs to an animal that weighs less than a AA battery. In the wild, a tiny Brandt’s bat in Siberia was recaptured 41 years after it was first banded — a mouse-sized mammal living four times longer than size should allow. As a rule, small mammals live fast and die young: a wild mouse is elderly at two. Bats shatter that rule so thoroughly that aging researchers study them for clues, and hibernation, slow metabolism during torpor, and unusually good cellular repair all seem to play a part. Our guide to how long bats live covers the science, and the complete bats guide introduces the whole remarkable family — including how hibernation stretches their years.
How long do deer, elk, and moose live?
The deer family lives on a faster clock than the ocean’s Methuselahs. Wild white-tailed deer typically live only 4–6 years — predators, hunting, winters, and vehicles see to that — but the same animal protected in captivity can reach up to about 20, which tells you the biological ceiling is far above the wild average. Our guide to how long deer live separates the two numbers properly. Elk average 10–13 years in the wild and can pass 20 in captivity, while moose typically manage 15–25 years at the upper end. The oldest wild deer-family animals on record are female caribou and red deer in their early twenties — almost always females, which skip the exhausting, injury-prone rut that shortens males’ lives.
Their neighbors and predators run on similar clocks: wild wolves average just 4–6 years, black bears commonly reach 20–25, and gorillas live 35–40 years in the wild and into their 50s and 60s in zoos. Among pets, rabbits typically get 8–12 well-cared-for years.
Why do some animals live so much longer than others?
Three patterns explain most of the leaderboard. First, cold and slow wins: Greenland sharks, quahogs, and glass sponges live in deep, near-freezing water where metabolism creeps along and cellular damage accumulates slowly. A Greenland shark grows about a centimeter a year and may not breed until it’s over a century old.
Second, safety buys time. Evolution invests in long-lasting bodies only when animals are likely to survive long enough to use them. Tortoises carry armor, whales outgrow their predators, and bats and birds escape danger by flying — which is a big part of why they outlive flightless animals of the same size. A deer that will probably meet a wolf within five years gains nothing from a 200-year body plan.
Third, some animals simply age more slowly, and a few — like the naked mole rat, still going strong past 30 while ordinary rodents fade at 3 — barely show any increase in death rate as they get older. Naked mole rats, tortoises, and bats are now lab favorites precisely because they seem to have negotiated better terms with time.
Longevity champions by group
| Group | Champion | Established record or estimate |
|---|---|---|
| All animals (dated individual) | Ocean quahog clam (Ming) | 507 years |
| Vertebrates | Greenland shark | Roughly 400 years (estimate range 270–500) |
| Mammals | Bowhead whale | 200+ years |
| Land animals | Giant tortoises | 190+ years (Jonathan, still living) |
| Land mammals | Humans | 122 years, verified |
| Small mammals (for size) | Brandt’s bat | 41 years at roughly a quarter-ounce |
| Rodents | Naked mole rat | 30+ years |
| Birds | Laysan albatross (Wisdom) | 70+ years and still raising chicks |
| Deer family | Caribou and red deer (females) | Up to about 20+ years |
The other end of the scale: nature’s shortest lives
The longevity leaderboard means more next to its opposite. Adult mayflies famously live a day or less — some species get under five minutes of adulthood to mate before dying, having done all their real living as aquatic larvae. Worker honeybees burn out in about six weeks in summer; house mice rarely see two years in the wild; and even a big, warm-blooded animal like a wild rabbit averages only a year or two once predators take their share, whatever its biological ceiling. Nature’s clocks run at wildly different speeds, and almost none of them run out from old age — in the wild, something usually eats you first. Long life, wherever it appears, is really a record of safety.
That’s also why the same species can post two honest lifespans. The “wild” number reports what predators, winters, and accidents allow; the “captive” number reports what the body itself can do. A squirrel that averages a year or two in the woods can reach 15–20 in protected care, and the gap for deer — 4–6 wild years against a ceiling of about 20 — is one of the largest among big mammals, a measure of just how dangerous a deer’s daily life is.
Old-timers you can actually meet
A lovely thing about longevity records: some of the record-holders are public figures. Jonathan the Seychelles giant tortoise has lived on the governor’s grounds of St. Helena since 1882 — already fully grown on arrival, hence the estimate that he hatched around 1832 — and has plodded politely past the invention of the telephone, powered flight, and the internet. Wisdom, a Laysan albatross banded on Midway Atoll in 1956 as a breeding adult, is the oldest known wild bird at 70-plus and has hatched chicks well into her seventies, rewriting what biologists assumed about seabird aging. Zoos routinely keep elephants into their 50s and 60s, and large parrots are famous for outliving their first owners — a macaw is a two-generation commitment masquerading as a pet. Each of these animals is a living data point, which is exactly how longevity science advances: one very old, very patient individual at a time.
Frequently asked questions
What animal lives the longest?
If “animal” means anything with a nervous system, the record-holder we’ve actually dated is Ming the ocean quahog clam at 507 years. The longest-living animal with a backbone is the Greenland shark at an estimated few centuries. If you allow colonial animals like glass sponges and corals, some individuals are estimated at over 1,000 years old — and the immortal jellyfish, in principle, need never die of old age at all.
Can any animal really live forever?
Sort of. The immortal jellyfish can reset its life cycle and start again as a juvenile, potentially without limit, and hydras show no measurable aging. But “biologically immortal” only means old age won’t kill them — predators, disease, and accidents still do, and in the wild they almost always get there first.
How long do deer live compared to the record-holders?
A wild white-tailed deer usually gets 4–6 years, and up to about 20 with protection and care. A Greenland shark born the same year as a fawn would still be a youngster four deer-lifetimes later — it may not even reach breeding age until it has outlived roughly twenty generations of deer.
Which pet lives the longest?
Tortoises, by a mile — a well-kept pet tortoise can outlive its owner, and some are passed down through families for generations. Among common pets, large parrots reach 50–80 years, koi carp commonly pass 25–35, cats reach up to about 20, dogs about 10–18 depending on breed, and rabbits typically 8–12.
Keep exploring: browse every species in the Animals A–Z index, meet the biggest animals in the world — several of which are also the longest-lived — or see how the other extreme lives with the lifespans of squirrels.
