These Are the 30 Longest Living Animals on Earth

#28 Greenland Shark

Did you know that sharks have outlived even the dinosaurs? So it’s less surprising that the Greenland Shark, native to the Northern Atlantic, has an average lifespan of between 300 and 500 years.

They have the longest lifespan of all vertebrates, with an average speed of 0.76 mph and growing a centimeter annually.

They grow so slowly that female Greenland Sharks does not sexually mature until the age of 150. Woah!

Scientists are able to estimate their age through the radiocarbon dating of their eye lenses. The eye lens of a Greenland Shark gains new tissues every year.

The amount of carbon isotope in the lens tissues can indicate the age of a shark.