Age - a question for my all-knowing friends-list

[andrewducker]

Ed was asking on Facebook what it would be like if we didn't age visibly so much - after all, other animals don't tend to.

Is this actually true?  Thinking about it, most other animals don't seem to get wrinkled in the same way, nor does their fur turn completely white or all fall out.  But is this just some animals?  Do other animals age visibly the same way we do?  Or is there something odd about people?

Comments

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

animals in the wild rarely reach "old age" - human natural lifespan in "the wild" is probably only about 30 years old. The higher apes (particularly chimps and apes) do go grey, and do suffer male-pattern baldness with older age, but again, they would not normally reach these ages in the wild.

Other mammals kept by humans do seem to age; Cuddles is nearly 17 and looks a lot "older" than he did when he was 10. Dog owners will notice the same, and I would presume, for mammals at least, zoo workers would be able to point out similar aging.

[andrewducker]

The higher apes (particularly chimps and apes) do go grey, and do suffer male-pattern baldness with older age

Aha! Thank you.