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Longevity of Animals

Insects live some only a few hours, others for weeks. The toad lives about 15 years.

Carp.-Buffon speaks of carps in the pond of Count de Maurepas, at Pontchartrain, proved to be more than 150 years old. A pike caught in a lake near Heilbronn, in 1497, showed by a brass ring attached to it that it had been placed in the lake in 1230. River trout have lived confined in wells 30 to 50 years. Domestic fowls and other gallinaceous animals live 12 to 15 years. Parrots. The Grand Duchess D'Urbino, when, in 1633, she came to Florence to marry the Grand Duke Ferdinand, brought with her a paroquet "the oldest member of her family." It lived in Florence nearly a century longer. Storks will live for more than a century.

The Camel lives 40 years.

Horse " " 30 66 Ox " 20 " 66 Dog " " 12 The Cat lives 10 years. 66 Sheep " " 9 66 Rabbit 66 8 66 " Guinea Pig " " 7 Elephants. Aristotle says that the elephant lives 200 years; the East Indians say 300. An elephant, whose age was not known when captured, lived afterwards in captivity 130 years.

Whale. The age of the whale, as computed by the lamine of whalebone in its jaws, reaches at least 400 years.