Speaking of dogs, could you create a breed designed for extreme longevity?

[Whack-a-Mole]

@Chronos

We’re already the Methuselahs, as mammals go at least. Any way you slice it, we live far longer than otherwise comparable species. As Asimov pointed out, for all mammals other than humans, the absolute maximum Guiness-record lifespan is somewhere in the vicinity of a billion heartbeats, plus or minus 30%… But humans reach our billionth heartbeat in our twenties, and can in the extreme live for four or five times that.

To be fair this was not always the case and we have a lot more going for us (big brains) than all other animals. Access to serious health care, reliable food sources, controlled environments (heated homes), etc. all seem to contribute a great deal.

Either that or we have somehow unwittingly bred longevity into ourselves. A look at historical lifespans for humans is pretty remarkable.

With few exceptions, 30,000 days is the average human lifespan - 40,000 if you’re lucky. However, two-thousand years ago average life expectancy was less than 20 years or about 7,000 days. It is difficult to imagine, but most of our ancestors kicked the bucket before our modern legal drinking age.

Bacteria, predators, accidents, extremes in weather and the lack of a reliable food source meant humans led short, dirty, brutal existences. That is if they survived birth at all. Infant mortality rates ranged from 300 or 400 deaths per 1,000 live births in the 18th century, while we see only seven per 1,000 today.

In 1796, life expectancy hovered around 24 years. A hundred years later it doubled to 48. In our modern world of air conditioners, hand washing and booster shots, you have a good chance of living 63 years, which is the world average. However, for those fortunate enough to live in a first-world country, lifespan jumps considerably.

SOURCE: Human Lifespan - Is There A Limit? :: Bruce Klein - Creative - LONGECITY

[Colibri]

@Whack-a-Mole

To be fair this was not always the case and we have a lot more going for us (big brains) than all other animals. Access to serious health care, reliable food sources, controlled environments (heated homes), etc. all seem to contribute a great deal.

This is not just a matter of life expectancy, it’s a matter of maximum life span. And our maximum life span has not increased in any significant way due to better health care, food, etc (other than the fact that with a larger population there is a greater probability of more people reaching the maximum span). Humans have a much greater maximum life span than any other mammal.

[Lemur866]

You’ve got to remember that those life expectancy figures don’t mean that people were dying of old age at 30 or 40, but that they were dying before they got old. If you include lots of people whose age at death is 0, that’s going to depress life expectancy figures significantly. Add in women dying in childbirth, infectious disease, accidents, and violence, and you’ve got a lot of people dying young. If the average life expectancy is 30, and you just had your 29th birthday that doesn’t mean that you are likely to die in the next year. You might not be much more likely to die than someone in a country where the average life expectancy is 70, if most of the deaths are within the first year of life.

As for breeding for human longevity, it seems that there are many tricks that can be done to increase an animal’s lifespan. I would suspect that most of these tricks won’t work to well with humans, aside from eliminating diseases that cause early death. Since human longevity is already so pronounced compared to similar mammal species, I would guess that most of these metabolic tricks are already being used by humans.

[Marley23]

@Chronos

But humans reach our billionth heartbeat in our twenties, and can in the extreme live for four or five times that.

Four billion seems about average these days. I’d say five is extreme.

[tygerbryght]

@vetbridge

Amen. Great post tygerbryght.

My pleasure. Very few pet-lovers seem to really realize just how important regular, proper medical care is to the longest and most enjoyable (for both pet and person) lifespans for their critters.

If you are ever in Pittsburgh I owe you a lunch:).

It could happen, though not soon. I know I’d enjoy chatting. So if it ever does, I’ll let’cha know.