What is the longest living land mammal?

Since 1900 the global average life expectancy has more than doubled and is now approaching 70 years, so we are the longest-living land mammals on Earth. There are a number of marine species that outlive us – bowhead whales can live for 200 years! Elephants live for approximately 56 years, gorillas live for 35 years, and an average lifespan of a bear is 25 years.

Human beings are expected to live on average 30–40 years in Swaziland and 82.6 years in Japan, but the latter's recorded life expectancy may have been very slightly increased by counting many infant deaths as stillborn. An analysis published in 2011 in The Lancet attributes Japanese life expectancy to equal opportunities and public health as well as diet.

The oldest confirmed recorded age for any human is 122 years, reached by Jeanne Calment who lived between 1875-1997. This is referred to as the "maximum life span", which is the upper boundary of life, the maximum number of years any human is known to have lived. Theoretical study shows that the maximum life expectancy at birth is limited by the human life characteristic value δ, which is around 104 years. According to a study by biologists Bryan G. Hughes and Siegfried Hekimi, there is no evidence for the limit on human lifespan.