Exploring the Secrets of Animal Immortality: 6 Fascinating Creatures That Defy Aging

JAKARTA – From tiny threshers to one-ton sharks, there are a number of animals that are apparently immortal. Because, it can be hundreds of years old. How come?

Many people do not understand that some animals can live a long life, as if they were going against the limits of natural time.

Although, in many cases, they are still vulnerable to external threats such as disease, predators and starvation. So, which animals can “live long”? Here are the details:

1. Hydra vulgaris

Hydras, especially the Hydra vulgaris species, look simple and ordinary. This freshwater animal has a tube-shaped body, only about one centimeter in size, with tentacles at the end. But, behind this simplicity, Hydra holds amazing secrets: how not to age.

This phenomenon defies scientific theory and evolution, to the extent that some scientists call it “biologically immortal” – meaning, it can Hydra die from disease, predators, or lack of food, but not from internal biological factors that cause aging.

At first, Daniel Martínez, a graduate student at the State University of New York, was skeptical of this claim. “I think it’s impossible for multispecies organisms to age,” he told Popular Science. However, after observing Hydra in the lab for four years, he didn’t Martínez found no signs of aging. Follow-up research over eight years showed similar results.

2. Hiu Greenland

The Greenland shark is a sea giant with a length of up to 7 meters and a weight of over 2,000 kilograms. This shark is the vertebrate species with the longest known lifespan. A 2016 study estimated the age of the oldest shark at around 400 years, possibly even over 500 years. They only reach reproductive age in about 150 years, so their childhood lasts for more than a hundred years.

Greenland sharks have a large genome with many duplicated genes responsible for DNA repair and cancer prevention, explained Arne Sahm, a computational biologist from Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. These enzyme proteins made from shark DNA continue to work for years, slowing metabolic aging and helping to maintain vitality throughout life.

3. Eternal spears

Hydras aren’t the only animals that seem to be fighting age; Turritpsis dohrnii, known as the immortal clam, has a unique way of resisting ageing. Instead of staying in the polyp stage, T. dohrnii can return to a juvenile form through a process called “transdifferentiation,” similar to the process of “regeneration.”

However, Daniel Martínez believes that the life cycle of Turritpsi resembles asexual reproduction more than a succession of individual lives. “It regenerates into a new group of cells that then produce new polyps, but the original cyst is gone,” he explained. However, Turritpsis shows that some species of spittoon have very different aging methods from other species.

4. Rat without feathers

The furless mole rat, a long-lived subterranean rodent of up to 40 years, shows signs of continued health well into old age. They have slow metabolisms and low body temperatures, and their cells are resistant to lack of oxygen.

They are also resistant to cancer, a disease that usually increases with age, thanks to a special mechanism that stops cell growth as cell density increases, a process called “early contact inhibition.”

5. Tortoise and tortoise

Turtles are famous for their longevity, some even live over 100 years in captivity. A 2022 study in the journal Science showed that three-quarters of the 52 turtle species studied did not show any age. Although they live longer in captivity, it is believed that controlled environmental conditions allow these turtles to reduce or eliminate their age.

6. Lobsters and Other Shellfish

Lobsters live very long, with some reaching the age of over 100 years. Interestingly, they will continue to grow throughout their lives, until the desiccation and shelling process becomes too energy intensive, eventually causing them to fail and die. Sea urchins, a species of shellfish, live even longer, with a specimen nicknamed “Ming” found to be 507 years old.

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