Why Is The Life Of Plants Far Longer Than Animals?

[Chloehxl]

Although animals are dependent on a similar mechanism, plants are possible to take advantage of this mechanism in a more optimal way. This may explain why many plants can survive for hundreds of years, which is quite rare for the animals concerned. 

[CraigD]

Welcome to hypography, Chloehxl! :) Please feel free to start a topic in the introductions forum to tell us something about yourself.

 

Although animals are dependent on a similar mechanism, plants are possible to take advantage of this mechanism in a more optimal way. This may explain why many plants can survive for hundreds of years, which is quite rare for the animals concerned.

The “mechanism” you name, I think we can call biological life, or more specifically, metabolism.

 

I wouldn’t say plant metabolism is “more optimal” than animal metabolism – animals metabolize much more energy in a unit of time (that is, are more mechanically powerful) than plants, ultimately resulting in impressive feats of life (such as you and I conversing on the internet) of which plants are incapable. The term “optimal” – usually defined as “best or most satisfactory” implies best at a achieving a given goal. If that goal is to photosynthesize, plants are pretty optimal. If the goal is to be fast, smart, and eat other organisms, animals are.

 

Though some plants survive a long time – for example, the quaking aspen tree colony Pando is thought to be at least 80,000 years old – some animals – such as the turritopsis dohrnii jelly fish, are biologically immortal – that is, if not harmed by external influences or lack of food, light and oxygen, will live forever. It’s possible that individual T. dohrnii have lived millions, or even tens or hundreds of millions of years – we don’t really know, because they don’t age, or leave artifacts like discarded skins or shells, so it’s difficult to measure their age.

 

The difference between typical plants and animals that impresses me more than differences in lifespans is how much less fragile plants are than animals – at least animals with complex body plans, like jelly fish, turtles, and human beings, vs. plants like trees, ivy, and potatoes. Remove a jelly fish from water, and it dies in a few hours. Damage an animal like a turtle or human being, such as by cutting a large vein or artery – and it dies in minutes. Some plants, on the other hand, can be cut into pieces, dried or frozen, then planted, and will resume living almost as if they hadn’t been interrupted.

 

There are some animals that can survive being dried, frozen, or cut up, though, so even this difference exists only between typical species of plants and animals, not all.

 

In summary, I don’t think it’s true the life of plants is far longer than that of animals. Some plants live a very long time, as do some animals. Some plants live a short time, as do some animals.

[fahrquad]

I would point out that annual plants die at the end of each growing season while turtles and tortoises can live 120+ years, which negates your premise.