The animals with the longest lifespan are not the ones you’d expect. Most of them you probably never heard about. It’s not turtles or elephants. Nope. These are animals that can far outlive anything you’ve ever imagined. Here is the list of the animals with the longest lifespan, the real super-animals of our world. Enjoy!
Cockatoos (80+ years)
Cockatoos are known to live between 40 and 70+ years. There’s a known case at the Chicago Brookfield Zoo of a cockatoo named Cookie that lived for 83 years. Yet, in the wild they can live as low as 40 years. There’s also an unconfirmed case of a cockatoo said to have lived for around 119 years.
Albatrosses (80+ years)
Most birds can live just as much as humans, some reaching 80 years or more as is the case for Albatrosses. There’s a known case of a female Laysan albatross that is around 73 years old (in 2024). It’s more difficult to know with certainty how old a bird is as they don’t age as other animals do.
Elephants (90 years)
These wonderful animals can live for 70-90 years depending on their location, whether it’s Africa, Asia or somewhere else. We know of an Asian elephant that went on to live for 89 years in captivity so it’s clear elephants can reach this age.
Tuataras (100 years)
Found in New Zealand, these are reptiles that seemingly don’t have any living relatives (they’re also known as “living fossils”). Sharp spines on the back are a distinctive item of the male of the species which they use to defend or fight other males.
Saltwater crocodiles (120 years)
On average, saltwater crocodiles can live around 70 years but there are at least two cases of such crocodiles that have surpassed 120 years of age. It’s still very difficult to pinpoint the age of a crocodile. Most are just estimates, like Cassius which lives at the Marineland Crocodile park on Green Island in Australia. He’s believed to be around 120 years old. Even now, it is still growing in size! So there’s still a lot of unknown things about crocodiles, how to measure their age and how much they can actually live for.
Lobsters (140 years)
They are usually believed to live around 100 years of age, yet there was a case of a lobster being alive for at least 140 years based on its weight.
Red sea urchins (200 years)
At one time, researchers assumed red sea urchins could live for about 10 years or so. Were they off the mark! They recently found red sea urchins that may be over 200 years of age in British Columbia, Canada. These urchins continue to grow as they age and do so at a slow rate.
Bowhead whales (200 years)
Living in the Arctic ocean, these majestic beings are known to live past 200 years and are ready to mate once they hit 25.
Rougheye rockfish (200 years)
While other rockfish can only live for 11 years, these seem to have found a way to vastly extend that to 200 years. They start breeding around 25 years of age and are generally found in the North Pacific ocean.
Tortoises (250 years)
How long do tortoises live for? Well, it’s estimated they live around 150 years on average but there are documented cases of tortoises living for upwards of 250 years. Such an example is Addawaita, a tortoise from India, which died in 2006 and probably lived for around 250 years. There’s also Harriet, a Galápagos tortoise which was taken into captivity by none other than Charles Darwin. It lived between 1830 and 2006 so around 175 years.
Freshwater pearl mussel (250+ years)
Unfortunately, this is an endangered species of invertebrates that can go on living for 250-280 years. They mostly live in North America and Europe and take advantage of their low metabolism to live so long.
The Tuberworm (300+ years)
These invertebrates can easily reach 200 years and some of them go to 300 or more. They live in cold waters and not surprisingly that ensures their metabolism is slowed down. It seems the secret to living longer can be found in low temperatures.
Greenland sharks (500+ years)
Can you believe that female Greenland sharks are not yet ready to breed until they reach about 156 years?! Yes, you read that correctly. They need that much just to be ready for that. As to how much they live, that depends. Because they live in very cold waters (Arctic Ocean and North Atlantic Ocean) it is believed their metabolic processes are slowed down. They can go well past 500 years of age.
Ocean quahogs (500+ years)
These can reach 225 years of age, on average, are mostly found in the North Atlantic ocean and reach reproductive maturity at around 6 years of age. But in 2006, in Iceland, one was found that had been living since the Ming dynasty which means it was around for at least 500 years!
Giant barrel sponges (2,300+ years)
Located in the Caribbean Sea, these sponges are said to be able to live for over 2,300 years. These sponges are especially important for the ecosystem it lives in as it can filter seawater and enlarge habitat complexity among others.
Black coral (5,000 years)
Yes, Black coral can live up to 5,000 years with ones in existence right now that are seemingly 4,270 years old. They were here in Ancient Egypt! Gold coral can go upwards of 2,800 years which is nothing to sneeze at but nowhere near what black coral can do.
Glass sponges (15,000 years)
Some glass sponges might have been here during the last ice age! The current estimations put these types of sponges at anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 years!!! Yes, that’s 15k! Can you imagine how many things you’d be able to accomplish, and do and experience in 15,000 years! That’s 5,475,000 days! Could we dare to hope that one day humans could live for 10% of how much these sponges live for? There’s actually such a sponge living in the Ross Sea, in cozy Antarctica that’s estimated to have been around for at least 11,000 years which means he could have lived during the last ice age and is also the oldest living animal on earth.
Turritopsis Dohrnii or Immortal Jellyfish (? years)
These are known as immortal jellyfish and they begin their existence as larvae, then live on the seafloor then turn into polyps which turn to jellyfish. Their “superpower” is the fact that they can (at will) transform back into polyps if they are hurt or even starving! Yes, they can “choose” to become younger at will! And they can repeat this process again and again which makes them immortal unless other predators eat them first. They are super small at 4.5 millimeters which makes them easy prey for a lot of predators.
Hydra (? years)
Similarly to the jellyfish above these invertebrates continue to regenerate themselves which means they don’t actually get old and can live forever. They often regenerate body parts and drum rolls please even… their own heads!
We hope you’ve enjoyed our list of animals with the longest lifespan and I think it’s time we started digging in on what makes the Hydra tick, right? Just imagine the possibility of regenerating body parts and living for thousands of years if not more? How does that sound?
We also recommend you check out our list of animals with the longest tail in the world.
Which animal has the longest lifespan?
Glass sponges are usually mentioned as the oldest animals living on our planet but recent data seems to also point to Hydra and Turritopsis Dohrnii as potentially being immortal so they are clearly the winners. They can easily turn back to younger selves, regenerate body parts, etc.
