Why Birds Are Anti-Aging Superstars

November 14, 2022 7:39 AM

Despite their extreme lifestyles, avians can live remarkably long lives for animals their size.
posted by Etrigan (13 comments total)

Interesting, thanks. Came for a mention of bats, which also live disproportionately long for their body-mass and was . . . bemused by non-sequitur: "Further evidence for this theory comes from the fact that strong flying birds, like the albatrosses, shearwaters, and petrels, tend to live longer than weak flyers, such as turkeys. And like birds, bats survive longer than expected for their size".
I understand that Audubon's core business is birds, but if there are general rules / causes for exceptional longevity it's better to cover / compare both candidate groups? In bats, it's the telomeres! It's methylation! It's viral immune tolerance! But I've yet to see a convincing causative relationship (rather than just correlation) . Excuse chiropteran derail . . . back on rails.
posted by BobTheScientist at 9:27 AM on November 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

Spoiler: It's because BIRDS AREN'T REAL.
posted by briank at 9:46 AM on November 14, 2022 [4 favorites]

Further evidence for this theory comes from the fact that strong flying birds, like the albatrosses, shearwaters, and petrels, tend to live longer than weak flyers, such as turkeys.

I can think of other reasons that delicious, weak-flying turkeys might not live as long as albatrosses! Kidding aside, really interesting article.
posted by pangolin party at 9:48 AM on November 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

In summary, the reason birds live so much longer than (terrestrial) mammals of comparable size is basically the same reason why a new Cessna 172 costs $400,000 and a new Chevy Malibu costs $25,000.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 9:55 AM on November 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

Flying is good cardio. See also orchestra conductors.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:47 AM on November 14, 2022

I wonder if dogs would write articles like this about us if they could.
posted by mhoye at 11:12 AM on November 14, 2022 [5 favorites]

Why Don’t Big Animals Get Cancer?
posted by jeffburdges at 11:20 AM on November 14, 2022

From my knowledge of pet parrots, they 100% can get cancer, it's a pretty common reason for "old age" death in pet birds. Yes it's less common than in cats and dogs, but it still happens. And birds live a long time... unless they don't. Birds are also very fragile. Illness or wounds that would be shrugged off by mammals can easily kill a bird.
posted by aspo at 11:34 AM on November 14, 2022

I've had the same pigeon visit my garden regularly for at least the last five years. I've named her Pidgey and it's a always big celebration with my online friends when Pidgey shows up in the spring, having made it through another winter.
posted by essexjan at 12:28 PM on November 14, 2022 [4 favorites]

The amazing thing is that birds like the albatross pull off that achievement despite being absolutely crawling with ticks.
posted by srboisvert at 4:57 PM on November 14, 2022

The amazing ages that birds can live to always reminds me of Humboldt's parrot, a bird he encountered while visiting the Guahibo people in the Amazon. According to them, it spoke the language of the Ature people, who had died out over a hundred years before, and was the last living speaker.
posted by tavella at 9:18 AM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Which also makes me wonder -- if it's flight adaptation, why do parrots live so long for their size? They aren't long distance flyers, but the oldest known birds on record are all parrots. Of course, they are kept in captivity more often than albatrosses, condors, or flamingos, also among the longest lived, so there's some bias, but they seem to regularly live into their 70s and 80s.
posted by tavella at 10:55 AM on November 15, 2022

why do parrots live so long for their size?

Based on the parrots I've known, it's sheer spite.
posted by Etrigan at 12:03 PM on November 15, 2022 [6 favorites]