Smiling terrapins put death on hold as they grow older

THE black marsh turtle, or the smiling terrapin, is an unassuming species that lives in South-east Asia, but it also has a unique trait: it is less likely to die the older it gets.

Academics from the University of Southern Denmark gathered data from zoos on how old various turtles and tortoises were when they died.

They then calculated a rate of ageing, as defined by the percentage risk of death at any age, and how it changes.

Ageing is different to getting older, with ageing a biological process known as senescence, the process where a body weakens and deteriorates.

They found that, for 75 per cent of the studies, ageing was not found and in around 80 per cent of species, animals age slower than humans. But for the black marsh turtle, the the risk of dying dropped by 4.2 per cent for females and minus 2.6 per cent for males.

Another study conducted a similar analysis on reptiles and amphibians which found the same thing.

“Basically, their likelihood of dying does not change with age once they’re past reproduction,” said Dr Beth Reinke from Northeastern Illinois University.

Scientists hope that in time they can learn more about the secrets of ageing from the reptiles to apply it to humans.

“If we can understand what allows some animals to age more slowly, we can better understand ageing in humans, and we can inform conservation strategies for reptiles and amphibians,” said Dr David Miller, senior author and associate professor of wildlife population ecology at Penn State.

Prof Anne Bronikowski, co-senior author and professor of integrative biology at Michigan State, added: “Understanding the comparative landscape of ageing across animals can reveal flexible traits that may prove worthy targets for biomedical study related to human ageing.”