# How long could Dinosaurs live? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 11, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-dinosaurs-live/131881 "2002-10-11T22:21:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AyersIII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@AyersIII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AyersIII)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2002, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-dinosaurs-live/131881/1 "2002-10-11T22:21:15Z")
Reciently I found myself reading a websight aimed at children, which promoted a Christian Creationist argument. One claim of this sight was that Dinosaurs got to be so large becouse of their extreme age. The quote then went on to refer to Noah living several centuries, somewhat implying that indivdual Dinosaurs might have done the same! After shooting off an angry e-mail to their sight (called Kidspot) denouncing this implication, I realized that I actually don’t know how long the larger (over a ton) Dinosaurs supposedly could live. Whats the scientific evidence concerning their lifespan? ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2002, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-dinosaurs-live/131881/2 "2002-10-12T00:46:38Z")
Short answer: not much. It is [thought](http://www.abc.net.au/dinosaurs/dig_deeper/faq.htm#six) that the upper range for some large dinos may have been around 300 years, assuming a cold-blooded physiology. Likely much shorter if warm-blooded or somewhere in between. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2002, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-dinosaurs-live/131881/3 "2002-10-12T01:29:30Z")
Actualy, a casual reading of _Genesis_ has Noah living 950 years (Methusalah, living to be 969, kept calling him “kid”). Arguing facts with creationists is like wrestling Jello, and stubborn Jello at that. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Green\_Feather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e7dd6/32.png) [@The\_Green\_Feather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Green_Feather)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2002, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-dinosaurs-live/131881/4 "2002-10-12T16:05:39Z")
> [@](#): > > After shooting off an angry e-mail to their sight So, what was their reply? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2002, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-dinosaurs-live/131881/5 "2002-10-12T18:30:33Z")
Actually, since Methuselah was Noah’s great-grandfather and their lifespans overlapped for 600 years, he probably did call him “Kid” or whatever the Antediluvian for “kid” may have been! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AyersIII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@AyersIII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AyersIII)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2002, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-dinosaurs-live/131881/6 "2002-10-12T20:48:02Z")
No, so far I haven’t gotten a reply from the Kidspot web sight. I did however find one fact. In Michael Chriton’s “The Lost World”, one of the characters states that most Dinosaurs reached maturity within four or five years. Chriton is very fond of properly researched material so I asume this is based upon actuall historical evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2002, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-dinosaurs-live/131881/7 "2002-10-12T21:18:56Z")
Unfortunately, the number of errors and amount of outright unsubstantiated speculation pertaining to dinosaurs in his two **Jurassic Park** books belies that reputation. He should stick to writing about medical stuff. Maturation rates would have, not surprisingly, varied from species to species, with smaller species tending to mature more slowly. The “five year” figure is though to be close for some medium-sized herbivores (e.g., _Maiasuria_), whereas smaller prosauropods such as _Massospondylus_ may have taken as long as 15 years. _Apatosaurus_ was thought to have reached maturation within about 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2002, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-could-dinosaurs-live/131881/8 "2002-10-12T21:20:08Z")
Sorry, that should be _Maiasaurus_. What the heck was I thinking…?