Lifespan Compare

[Please note first] This cannot tell you how many years your own animal has left. The figures here are typical values for each species, not for an individual. It does not cover health or illness, and is not a substitute for a veterinarian. It also does not convert a dog's or cat's age into human years. ────────── ◈ Lifespan Compare — how long is that, really? "A Greenland shark lives 300 years" does not tell you much. In house mice, that is 150 of them. A human life of 84 years comes to 42 house mice, or 30,681 adult mayflies. Enter one span and compare it against 26 animals, from a mayfly to a Greenland shark. ■ Two ways to use it ▪ A life about this long — the closest animals, shortest first ▪ How many lifetimes — how many of each animal your span comes to The same 26 entries are used both ways: searched by nearness in one tab, divided in the other. ■ Twenty-six animals Mayfly, adult (1 day); housefly; honeybee worker (40 days); house mouse; sparrow; golden hamster; squirrel; chicken; rabbit; sheep; dog, medium; lion; cat; pig; cattle; giraffe; polar bear; horse; chimpanzee; hippopotamus; African grey parrot; African elephant; human, Japan (84 years); Galapagos tortoise; bowhead whale; Greenland shark (300 years). Tap any row to load its figure. ■ A figure means nothing until you say what was counted There are three ways to count. ▪ In the wild and in captivity — and neither is reliably the higher. A 2008 comparison put African elephants at about 56 years in the wild but only about 17 in zoos; lions run the other way, 12 to 16 in the wild against 20 to 25 in captivity ▪ Average and record — the 84 years for Japan is a life expectancy at birth (81.09 for men, 87.13 for women). The human record is 122 years, about 1.45 times that average ▪ Adult stage and whole life — an adult mayfly lives a day, but most spend around a year as larvae in water This app uses captive figures for livestock and pets, wild figures for everything else, and a life expectancy for humans alone. Seventeen entries carry a range under the name, because sources differ; a range is shown only for reading, and the comparison uses the typical figure. ■ Readable at every scale The same screen shows "1 day" and "300 years". Each row picks its own unit so the number stays readable. hours → days → years Not "30,681 days" but "84 years". Not "0.5 days" but "12 hours". A year is taken as 365.25 days, the Julian year. There is no month rung: a month runs from 28 to 31 days, so there is no single number to use. ■ Good for ▪ Making sense of a figure from a documentary or a field guide ▪ Explaining to a child how long an animal's life is ▪ Reading a zoo label and wanting a feel for the scale ▪ Any moment you wonder whether a number is a long time ■ Things worth knowing (included in the app) ▪ The same animal carries two figures, wild and captive, and neither side is reliably the higher ▪ A life expectancy is an average at birth, not the highest record ▪ Which animals use which kind of figure — 11 entries are captive ▪ Why months are not used, while a year can be fixed at 365.25 days ▪ Among animals with a backbone, the Greenland shark: "at least 272 years" ▪ For insects the adult stage and the whole life are different things ■ How the app is built ▪ A single screen. No settings page, no tabs to hunt through ▪ Your last five entries are kept and can be tapped to restore ▪ Japanese and English, following your device language ▪ No account needed. The comparison runs on your device and your figures are never sent anywhere ────────── Note: every figure here is a typical value for a species. Many vary between sources, so please read the range shown under the name. This app cannot tell you how many years your own animal has left, does not cover health or illness, and is not a substitute for a veterinarian.