I have heard somewhere that sharks could theoretically live hundreds of years? True?
459261
Lets browse my X-files directory, hmm,....\nYeah, they could, as well as humans. But 'theoreically'..
1094383
Under what conditions?\n\nI recall seeing an article about a hotel in the Florida Keys that has made a series of underwater "bungaloes" that guests need to SCUBA dive down to, and out of.  Looks like it would be interesting.  And there are deep-sea researchers that live at depth for some time.\n\nBut either one requires a great deal of support at this time, since none of them could be considered self-sufficient.  Perhaps in the future?
273931
Sharks do NOT die if they stop moving. In fact, many sharks commonly spend time on the bottom of the ocean, engaged in sleep or a sleep-like behavior. \nStrangely, what you cite as a "fact" (which it is not) is still taught in schools, and the reason commonly invoked is that the flow of water through the gills would stop if the animal was not swimming. Actually, sharks are able to pump respiratory water through the gills using movements of the mouth floor.\nWhat _does_ happen when they stop swimming is that they sink close to the bottom. Sharks do not have a swim bladder as bony fish do, and although their enormous oil-filled liver gives them some buoyancy, it's not enough to keep them in midwater.\nPhotographs of sleeping sharks:\nhttp://www.jamaicajim.com/Hshark.jpg\nhttp://world-discoverer.com/photo/burma2003/450-330.jpg
147729
How long do dolphins actually live? \n\nIt depends on which species you are talking about. Bottlenose dolphins may live for 50 years, but most only live for 25 years.
60032
Blue whales live about 25-30 years!
232744
Maybe like 200,000a year.
1067972
no.  the more complex an organism, the easier they go extinct.\n\ntrilobites lasted around 300 million years; a not-so-complex animal.\n\ndinosaurs lasted about 150 million years; more complex, shorter reign.\n\nhumans, we haven't even come CLOSE to how long dinosaurs we around, we'll go extinct soon enough.
857800
Sure, and people used to live for over 900 years. Makes perfect sense. NOT!
538853
Tube worms can live 200+ years
599017
Thye lived a long time ago, and the closest living relative to the dinosaurs is the crocodile.  Crocodiles have remained unchanged for 1000's of years.
466263
It depends on the shark as many sharks lay eggs or keep eggs within them until they hatch. There are other sharks who use a placenta. The spiny dogfish shark has the longest gestation period of 22 months with gestation periods lasting at least a year. Shark pups are fully self-sufficient and quickly move away from their mother who may eat them.
582453
Hell yes I would no way would a shark get me in 20 sec. I've researched them for years, just get under the sark they never attack straight in front always from below and behind.
246317
True and False.\n\nTrue they existed.  False that they existed "millions of years ago"
1137807
Life expectancy of animals and plants\nThe vast majority of animals have shorter life expectancies than humans do, and typically the lifespan of the animal increases with size. Some examples include:\n\nCats have lifespans in the 14-20 year range. \nLarge herbivores (cattle, horses, camels, deer) in the 30-50 year range. \nBirds usually live 10-30 years, with parrots - particularly macaws - and several seabirds notable exceptions, with lifespans ranging from 40-80 years. \nElephants have lifespans of 50-80 years. \nBlue whales can live from 40 to 80 years. \nBowhead whales are thought to live up to 200 years, with a few individuals found to have century-old harpoons embedded in their blubber. \nDogs live 10-25 years. \nSome turtles live to 150 years or more. \nCertain trees have almost outlived recorded human history; the baobab tree can live for 1,000-4,000 years, although it is understandably difficult to measure this. Similarly long-lived are olive trees, domesticated in the Mediterranean. Several olive trees still alive today were nurtured by the ancient Greeks. \nMany corals can potentially live for over 100,000 years. However, there is no consensus among marine biologists how to determine age of a coral, and whether or not it is really a single organism.
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Birds are the direct descendents of dinosaurs.  Many scientists will say they *are* dinosaurs.  As such, they are alive, so dinosaurs are alive.\n\nWhile it remains possible that some dinosaurs proper have survived, it is extremely unlikely at this point.  There is no physical evidence for it.\n\nYour second question is difficult to answer.  Are there prehistoric creatures that have survived?  Sure!  Pretty much every species on earth today (even humans!) is older than history, that makes it prehistoric!  Defining prehistoric any other way would essentially make prehistoric mean "not surviving today", so the answer would be no.\n\nWhat you mean, of course, is creatures to have survived from truly ancient times, such as from the Mesozoic (age of dinosaurs) or older, but again, it's difficult to answer.  There probably aren't any actual species that old, but it's difficult to tell if something in the fossil record is actually the same species as something alive today.  Consider, lions and tigers look and act very different alive and are certainly two different species, but it is very difficult to tell their skeletons apart.\n\nA lot of so-called "living fossils" really aren't.  For instance, we have no fossils of the Coelacanth.  It's closest relatives in the fossil record are in another family (as different as cats and dogs).  Cockroaches are often said to have been unchanged for millions of years, but it's not the case as the fossil record records them evolving continuously.  The first fossil cockroaches had three pairs of wings!\n\nBut some things have survived nearly unchanged for millions of years.  Six-gill and Port Jackson sharks are very much like they were in the age of dinosaurs.  The Tuatara is surprisingly like it's Mesozoic relatives.\n\nBut the king of living fossils is the Lingula brachiopod.  It looks like a clam and lives by filter feeding, but don't let it's calm appearance fool you.  These little guys are survivors.  They've been living in Earth's oceans almost unchanged for 550 million years!  That's almost as long as we have animal fossils at all!  Dinosaurs are hardly teenagers by comparison!\n\nAddenda:  The Komodo Dragon is NOT believed to be a dinosaur, at least not by scientists.  It is just a large monitor lizard.  Dinosaurs are not lizards, being classed among the Archosaurs with the crocodiles, pterosaurs and birds.
287962
There is no scientific proof that people lived this long, only biblical documetation.  Physically, the human body cannot live to that age at this time, or any previous time.  Maybe somewhere down the road.
1057956
Mega fauna, like Woolly Mammoths and Saber tooth Tigers, have no chance of ever re evolving, but there are still giant mammals, on the planet earth. Elephants, giraffes, muskox, lions, tigers and the largest animal ever to inhabit our planet, the blue whale, are still very much around, at least for the time being. It would be fantastic if some of the recently extinct, mega fauna, like the woolly  mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, the giant cave bear, the giant irish elk and the giant three toed land sloth were still roaming parts of our plant. Could you imagine a saber tooth tiger roaming around the hills surrounding Los Angeles, now that would be cool. Unfortunately the recently extinct species, that have been gone for 12,000 years, have little scientific chance, of ever being reintroduced, with today's scientific technology.  The future is wide open however, and the technology might soon exist to reanimate, many of these incredible species, how great would that be. I would love to see a 8,000 pound, 12 foot tall sloth. I only wish the future would hurry up and get here. The expectation and excitement of such developments, are wildly frustrating.\nGreat Question