Very little is known as to the longevity of lizards and serpents, but it may be inferred from what I have said about other reptiles that reptiles as a class are able to reach great ages.
It is an easy inference that the great duration of life in cold-blooded animals is associated with the slowness of the physiological processes in these creatures. The circulation, for instance, is so slow, that the heart of a tortoise beats only 20 to 25 times in a minute. Weismann has suggested that one of the factors influencing the duration of life is the rapidity or slowness of the vital activities, the times taken by the processes of absorption and nutrition.
On the other hand, the blood is hot and the vital activities are rapid in birds, and yet birds may attain great ages. Although in the last chapter I gave a number of examples, the subject is so important that I propose to go further into details. The possibility of this is due to an admirable set of details brought together by Mr. J. H. Gurney.[39] In his list, in which are included more than fifty species of birds, the lowest figures are from eight and a half to nine years (Podargus cuvieri, Chelidon urbica), and a duration of life so short is an exception, a period of from fifteen to twenty years being more common. Canaries have lived in captivity from 17 to 20 years, and goldfinches up to 23 years. Field larks have lived for 24 years, the Lesser Black-backed Gull 31 years and the Herring Gull 44 years. Birds of medium size may live for several dozens of years, whether they live on animal or on vegetable food, whether they are prolific or lay very few eggs. I will quote only a few instances. Of forty parrots the minimum and maximum ages were respectively 15 and 81 years, and the average 43 years. Without accepting the truth of the story mentioned by Humboldt according to which certain parrots survived an extinct race of Indians, at least we may be certain that great ages have sometimes been reached by these birds. Levaillant mentions a parrot (Psittacus erithaceus) which lost its memory at the age of 60 years, its sight at 90 years, and which died aged 93 years. Another individual, probably of the same species, is reported by J. Jennings to have reached the age of 77. Jones, Layard, and Butler are the authorities for instances of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos having reached respectively 30, 72 and 81 years. M. Abrahams states that an Amazon (Chrysotis amasonica) lived 102 years. I myself have observed two cases of great longevity in the same species of parrot. One of these birds died at the age of 82 years, apparently simply from old age, whilst the other, which was in my possession for several years before it died at the age of 70 to 75 years, was vigorous, showing no signs of senility, but died of pneumonia.
Mr. Gurney found that parrots were not the only birds capable of reaching a great age. One raven reached 69 years and another 50, an Eagle-owl (Bubo maximus) 68 years, another 53, a condor 52, an imperial eagle 56, a common heron 60, a wild goose 80, and a common swan 70 years. None of these examples approaches the legendary three centuries attributed to the swan, but it is evident that many different kinds of birds may attain great age. I can add some cases to those of Mr. Gurney. In the Royal Park at Schönbrunn, near Vienna, a white-headed vulture (Neophron percnopterus) died aged 118 years, a golden eagle (Aquila chrysaëtus) aged 104, and another aged 80 (according to Oustalet). Mr. Pycraft (Country Life, June 25th, 1904) reported that a female eagle, captured in Norway in 1829, had been brought to England and had lived for 75 years. In the last thirty years of its life, it had produced ninety eggs. The same writer mentions the case of a falcon having lived to 162 years.
The collection of facts that I have passed in review make it manifest that birds may have a great duration of life, but that reptiles surpass them in this respect. Birds certainly do not reach the very great ages of crocodiles and tortoises.
Longevity, therefore, is reduced as we ascend in the scale of vertebrate life. We find a still greater reduction when we turn from birds to mammals. Some mammals, it is true, may live as long as birds. Elephants are a good instance. It used to be thought that these giant mammals could live three or four centuries, but I can find no confirmation of the legend, which seems as mythical as that relating to the life of swans. There are no exact data as to the ages reached by wild elephants, but it has been stated that in captivity an elephant rarely but occasionally has completed its century. In zoological gardens and in good menageries, where elephants are well cared for, they seldom live more than 20 to 25 years. Chevrette, an African elephant presented to the Jardin des Plantes by Mehemet Ali, in 1825, lived for only 30 years. In the official list of the Indian Government, which gives the deaths of elephants, it appears that of 138 examples, only one lived more than 20 years after it had been purchased (Brehm’s Mammals).
Flourens, using his own formula, assigned the age of 150 years to elephants as their epiphyses do not fuse with the long bones until the age of 30. So far, I know of no fact to support the conclusion, although it seems fairly well established that occasionally an elephant may reach a century. It is stated that one elephant was in service throughout the whole period of more than 140 years in which Ceylon was occupied by the Dutch. This elephant was found in the stables in 1656. Natives with special knowledge of elephants set down their duration of life as from 80 to 150 years, but say that they begin to grow old at from 50 to 60 years of age. My general conclusion from the facts is that the life of these very large mammals is about the same as that of man who is very much smaller.
Centenarians, extremely rare amongst elephants, do not appear to exist in any other kind of mammals except man. The rhinoceros, another large mammal which is a native of the same countries as the elephant, does not reach a great age. According to Oustalet an Indian rhinoceros died in the menagerie of the Paris Museum at about the age of 25 years, and showed all the signs of senility. Another Indian rhinoceros lived for 37 years in the London Zoological Gardens. Grindon has stated his opinion that the rhinoceros may live for 70 or 80 years, but this seems rather an inference from the slowness of growth than a statement of observed fact.
Horses and cattle are large animals, but do not enjoy very long lives. The usual duration of life in horses is from 15 to 30 years. They begin to grow old about 10 years, and in very rare cases may reach 40 or more. A Welsh pony is said to have reached the age of sixty, but such a case is excessively rare. Two other extreme cases are that of a horse belonging to the Bishop of Metz which died at the age of 50 years, and the charger of Field-Marshal Lacy which died at 46.
The duration of life of cattle is still shorter. Domestic cattle show the first sign of age, a yellow discoloration of the teeth, when five years old. In the sixteenth to eighteenth year the teeth fall out, or break, and the cow ceases to give milk, whilst the bull has lost reproductive power. According to Brehm, cattle live for 25 to 30 years or more. Although the duration of life is short, cattle are not prolific. The gestation period of a cow approaches that of the human race (242-287 days), and there is only one birth a year. The total period of reproductivity lasts only a few years.