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'Human fish' salamander breaks lifespan record | A small cave salamander, dubbed the human fish because
of its human-like skin tone, has broken the world's record for longest-lived amphibian, found a study. Also called olm and Proteus, the salamander, which can live to
over 100, is endangered, but reaches such advanced ages in zoos and protected
environments. Future studies on this amphibian might shed light on what promotes
longevity in the animal kingdom. "Among amphibians the human fish is clearly the
most long-lived species," Discovery News quoted lead author Yann Voituron as saying.
Voituron, a professor at Claude Bernard Lyon University, and his team calculated
growth rates, generation times and the lifespan of olms living in a cave at Moulis,
Saint-Girons, France. Since the 1950s, conservationists have established a breeding
program there for the threatened salamanders. In addition to determining the lifespan
of the cave salamanders, the researchers found that this species becomes sexually
mature at around age 16 and lays, on average, 35 eggs every 12.5 years. "What
promotes its longevity is probably very low activity, low reproduction, no environmental
stress and its peculiar physiology," said Voituron. Scientists have been interested
in the lifespan of this salamander for some time, since zookeepers started to
notice that olms in exhibits would live to amazingly advanced ages, usually over
70 years. Analysis of this, and other elderly animals, might shed light on what
promotes longevity in general. The olm seems to fit a pattern, where long lives
are dependent upon low-stress, stable environments without predators. The study
has been published in the latest Royal Society Biology Letters. |
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