How Long Do Animals Live? \ stacker news ~charts_and

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459 sats \ 11 comments \ @Tony 16h charts_and_numbers

In 1939, Compton’s Pictured Encyclopedia publish a simple yet clever infographic that show the life expectancy of animals using ISOTYPE technique. An ISOTYPE is a visual language for making icons and the concept of using multiples to exhibit quantitative data. The zig-zag lifeline on this ISOTYPE chart is an intelligent solution for squeezing a long timeline in to one single page.

The colors indicate the animal classes:

Mammals (red)
Birds (black)
Other vertebrates (blue)
Invertebrates (yellow)

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61 sats \ 1 reply \ @freetx 15h

Have you heard the heatbeat theory? I wonder how that stacks up against this chart?

(heartbeat theory is that animals only get a set amount of heartbeats and mice have faster heartbeats than elephants, etc)

32 sats \ 0 replies \ @Tony OP 15h

I think I heard something like that. But never dug into it. It probably makes sense to some extent, but that doesn’t seem to work with birds.

57 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 16h

I’m surprised earthworms live that long

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Tony OP 16h

I was too

57 sats \ 0 replies \ @Cje95 16h

No long enough is the only correct answer! Unless its lobsters which in theory could live forever if they successfully molt or the Greenland sharks that are estimated to be between 400-500 years old.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Bell_curve 4h

I assumed rats would live longer because they have strong immune systems?

Rats and cockroaches will never be extinct?

I'm going to bury those wetbacks... I mean cockroaches!

11 sats \ 1 reply \ @Tony OP 4h

Well, their immune system superiority is mitigated by the environment they normally live in, plus there’s obviously a lot more to life expectancy than just not getting sick. As far as I understand, rats and cockroaches as species do outlive many others mainly due to their “reproduction volumes” — they give birth to some crazy numbers of babies and do it very frequently.

I’m no expert in biology by the way, just thinking out loud.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 4h

rats cockroaches and migrants

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @ladyluck 1h

Really neat infographic! The ISOTYPE approach with those vibrant colors and the zig-zag design is both practical and visually striking.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @guerratotal 13h

My dad had an 18-year-old horse when we lived in the countryside. When we left for the city, he gave it to a friend of his, and it lived with that friend for another three years. It died because it broke its leg and had to be put down. That animal was very good. I have fond memories of it when I was little; it was super tame.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Fenix 14h

It is very interesting that animals of the same class have different life expectancies.