Human and Animal Lifespans

The following information is compiled from a number of sources. Additional lifespans may be found at Dr. Bob's All Creature Site.

These represent estimates of the life expectancies of the population as a whole. In many instances life expectancy varied considerably according to class and gender. Life expectancy rises sharply in all cases for those who reach puberty. All statistics include infant mortality, but not miscarriage or abortion.

Humans by EraAverage Lifespan at Birth (years)
Upper Paleolithic33*
Neolithic20
Bronze Age18
Classical Greece20-30
Classical Rome20-30
Pre-Columbian North America25-35
Medieval Islamic Caliphate35+**
Medieval Britain20-30
Early 20th Century30-40
Current world average66.12 (2008 est.)

*: At age 15: 39 (to age 54)
**: The average lifespans of the scholarly class were 59–84.3 years in the Middle East and 69–75 in Islamic Spain.


Animal (General)Maximum Lifespan (years)*
Mammals
Bull28
Camel50
Cat25
Cow22
Deer35
Dog, large10
Dog, small17
Donkey45
Elephant70
Fox14
Goat15
Hare10
Horse40
Lion35
Mouse4
Ox20
Pig, wild25
Rabbit9
Sheep15
Tiger22
Wolf18
Birds
Amazon Parrot80
Blackbird18
Chicken15
Pigeon26
Macaw50
Reptiles
American Box Turtle123
Crocodile45
Galapagos Land Tortoise193
Rattlesnake22
Insects
Ant, queen3
Ant, worker0.5
Bee, queen5
Bee, worker1

*: This is not the absolute maximum lifespan. However, there is an upper age limit at which the vast majority of animals will die. Animals living past that age are exceptions, and aside from being old and wise are also incredibly snappy dressers.

Source: Wikipedia (human), Tesarta (animal)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Weights of Common Substances

Compiled by Andrew Roy The table below provides density figures for many common (and some not-so-common) substances. This information is useful for determining the weight (or volume) of objects and cargo. This table was pieced together from a wide variety of sources, listed in full at the bottom of the page. The inspiration for this comes from the old Dragon magazine article, "How Heavy is My Giant". These figures have not been rigorously checked. Do not rely on this as a scientific reference! Note on measures: Specific gravity is a measure of an object's density. A cubic centimeter of water at 4°C weighs 1 gram, and has a specific gravity of 1. The specific gravity numbers below can be read as "grams per cubic centimeter" (or kg/liter). A solid object with a specific gravity greater than 1 will sink in water. Weight in pounds per cubic inch and foot is also provided to save non-metric users some time on the calculator. Material Specific Gravity Pound
Read more

Very useful Caves of Chaos map

When it comes to dungeon maps, I favor utility over artistry. Maps with rendered furniture and torchlight shadows are nice, but if they’re only seen by the GM, they’re not very practical. I want maps that are clear and make layout with dungeon tiles easy. If they can convey additional information without being too busy, all the better. Given the above, I really like this map of the venerable “Caves of Chaos” I found on The RPG Cartography blog . Not only is it practical but it contains a lot of useful information without being overdone. The only thing it’s really lacking is a square grid, though that might have clashed too much with the other elements (maybe tick marks on the outside of the walls could have been substituted...?). I’m not sure how much use I’ll get out of this map, but it’ll definitely be a model for ones I make myself in the future. (Note: The first link is to a JPG of the map, but the PDF you can download from the second link is much higher quality).
Read more

OSE Players Companion

Image
For a variety of reasons, I've switched from 5E to Old School Essentials . To that end, I've created a PDF for using Mythosa with OSE, including house rules, what optional rules are used, and similar things. The PDF is available from the Downloads page.
Read more