It turns out that many turtles 'almost never age and the mortality rate does not increase with age'
Turtles are known to be very long-lived animals, and the giant tortoise 'Jonathan', bred on the island of St. Helena in the South Pacific
Diverse aging rates in ectothermic tetrapods provide insights for the evolution of aging and longevity
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm0151
Slow and negligible senescence among testudines challenges evolutionary theories of senescence
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl7811
Scientists find species that don't seem to age. What does it mean for humans? | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/turtles-dont-age
When thinking about animal aging, it is important to understand that 'death may be unavoidable, but not necessarily so with aging.' Aging is the weakening of living organisms as they age. For example, in humans, the immune system and bones weaken with age, and the statistical mortality rate increases with age. According to a survey by the US Social Security Administration, a 50-year-old man living in the United States has a 0.48% chance of dying the following year, increasing to 5.6% at age 80 and 34.8% at age 100. In other words, humans are more likely to die as they age.
On the other hand, turtles are known to live very long in nature, and research results have shown that mature turtles have excellent ability to kill broken cells and resistance to DNA damage . .. So, a research team led by biologist Rita de Silva, who was enrolled at the University of Southern Denmark at the time, used Species360 , which stores breeding data for various animal species such as zoos and aquariums, to age 52 turtles. And analyzed the mortality rate.
As a result, it was found that the aging rate was zero or almost negligible in 75% of the analyzed species including Greek tortoise and Aldabra giant tortoise . In other words, it was shown that many turtles do not have a high mortality rate with age and tend to have a high average age.
In addition, another research team conducted a study of wild populations comparing species such as frogs, crocodiles, lizards, and turtles with the aging rates of other homeothermic animals. When researchers from around the world collected and analyzed data from wild populations tagged, turtles were found to be significantly longer and slower to age.
'We found that turtles have a very consistent pattern of longevity and very slow aging,' said David Miller of Pennsylvania State University, co-author of the paper. increase. Initially, the research team assumed that aging was influenced by the difference between homeothermic animals and homeothermic animals, but there was no relationship between the speed of aging and whether or not it was a homeothermic animal.
As a result of investigating various conditions, the research team showed that 'hot climate increases the aging rate of reptiles and decreases it in amphibians' and 'the longer the warm-blooded animal, the slower the sexual maturation'. .. The most interesting finding is that 'the slowest-aging warm-blooded animals have a strong defense mechanism to protect themselves from predators.'
For example, turtles have a hard shell, so mortality from foreign enemies is lower than in animals without these protections. Miller believes that turtles can survive until the cellular protection against aging is in effect, thanks to the protective effect of the shell.
Miller points out that humans and turtles kept are similar in that they 'have easy access to food and shelters and live in a cozy environment.' Humans do age faster than the average turtle, but they age faster than many other species. Researchers believe that advancing turtle biological research may reveal the key to human anti-aging.
It is also possible that even very long-lived animals may accelerate aging at some point. For example, Jonathan, the oldest turtle in the world, is no longer blind and can no longer smell, and it seems that humans can not live without feeding by hand, and it is certainly affected by aging. ..
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