Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 May 1883 — LONGEVITY OF WILD ANIMALS. [ARTICLE]

LONGEVITY OF WILD ANIMALS.

Two hippopotamuses have recently died in the London Zoological Garden. One was twenty-seven years in confinement, the other thirty, but, of course, their actual age can never be known. Indeed, it is difficult to tell whether the Wild animal lives as long as the domestic one. At one time the test was the length of time required to reach maturity, which, it was assumed, bore a certain proportion to .the life of the creature. But this does not hold good with even the larger mammalia, for a horse, assuming it to be mature at 4 years, will live to five or six “maturities,” while man, presuming him to be mature at 20, rarely, reaches four. Dogs enjoy a greater proportion of longevity

than mankind, a life is proverbially tenacious. It cannot be proved that even wild animals have their lives shortened by confinement. Indeed, it is reasonable to suppose that the care given to animals in menageries prolongs their existence. The civilized man certainly lives longer than the savage, who is exposed to the hardships and vicissitudes of a rough out-door existence.