Giant tortoises are some of the long-lived species on the planet. Here’s what biologists now understand about one of nature’s ...

Scientists were amazed to discover a 507-year-old clam that was already 100 in Shakespeare’s day, but why did it live so long ...

WASHINGTON -- More than a dozen animals live longer than we do. A new study estimates that at least one Greenland shark lived about 392 years, making it the longest-living animal with a backbone. Here ...

Aging brings about a range of changes—often unwelcome—to our bodies: sagging skin, graying or thinning hair, and a decline in muscle strength and vitality. But aging also affects us on the inside, ...

Human activities like coal burning and gold mining can cause mercury pollution in the air, which eventually settles into water, where it is absorbed into the food chain and results in the risk of ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. Humans, under optimal conditions, can live to an age of 100 ...

Eleanor has an undergraduate degree in zoology from the University of Reading and a master’s in wildlife documentary production from the University of Salford. Eleanor has an undergraduate degree in ...

Rachael has a degree in Zoology from the University of Southampton, and specializes in animal behavior, evolution, palaeontology, and the environment. Rachael has a degree in Zoology from the ...

Mammals, for instance, differ dramatically in their maximal lifespans—from the tiny forest shrew, which lives only one or two years, to the bowhead whale, capable of living for more than 200 years.