Life of humans on the planet can be considered short if we compare it with the lifespans that some animals have. While humans have an average life expectancy of 72 years according to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are some creatures on the planet who are immortal and some can live up to thousands of years.
Greenland shark
The Greenland shark lives deep in the Arctic Ocean belonging to the somnios family. The sharks grow about 0.5 to 1 cm a year and can grow up to 24 feet long and can live in water and the only shark that can tolerate Arctic temperatures year round with a temperature of 7 to -2 degrees.
Bowhead whale
The credit for being the longest-living mammal on the planet goes to the bowhead whale also known as the Arctic whale. Many of them are believed to be over 200 years old, while the oldest known of them is 211 years old. Bowhead whales have a gene in their body, which is called ERCC1.
Antarctic sponge
The Antarctic sponge holds the record for the longevity of its kind. The creature lives in arctic cold waters. Every year the sponge grows by 0.2 mm, while it lives at a depth of about 200 m, where sunlight practically does not penetrate. By reducing the metabolic process, the Antarctic sponge can live upto 5,000 to 15,000 years.
Cockatoo
Cockatoos, a type of bird known to form bond with humans when kept as pets have an average life span of 50 to 70 years, depending on the species. All cockatoo species occur in Australia and the islands around Oceania.
Giants Galapagos Tortoise
In 2006, a male tortoise named Adwaita died at the age of 255 at Alipore Zoological Gardens of Kolkata. It is said that this male tortoise weighing upto 250 kg of Algebra species was gifted to Lord Clive, the founder of the British Empire in India.