Age in human years

[Len-len24]

Thought some people would be Intrested

 

[Len-len24]

Thought some people would be Intrested

 

[ChileanTaco]

I know for some animals, like dogs, there is a "age in human years" scale.
Especially the dog one was revised recently. The problem is IMHO that different animals don't do, experience the same things in the same order - e.g.: some species can breed before being fully grown, some only breed some time after they are fully grown. Some go through some changes during their life, others stay quite the same until they die (look the same, can breed) - how much is an animal of a species that doesn't change much really aging during that time? For that we would have to compare things we cannot easily see, like what's going on in their body (cancer cells? blood vessels? telomeres?)

I'd say from what we know a bearded dragon older than maybe 8 - 10 years is for sure a senior; also we know when they are fully grown. For anything in between, I would not compare a dragon's age to a human's age.
Also, it's not really known how old bearded dragons can get, and how rare it would be that a bearded dragon get's, let's say, 15 old if the care would be perfect. Here we see sometimes dragons with 10+ years, some people claim even 15 years (when I say "claim" I don't mean they might lie, but rather that they maybe don't know exactly how old their dragon was when they got them). How old would dragons get on average with "perfect conditions", i.e. light, food, temperature like in their natural environment, minus their natural predators, add in a good vet? Would the 15-year-old beardie still be rare, or would that become something not rare to see? We don't know.

 

[Xjrosie]

Well, from what I've read, wild beardies live around 3-8 years, while captive beardies live around 9-12. Some sites even say they live 10-15 years.

You would also have to consider that, when comparing species to humans, it's not an equal ratio. Depending on life stage, it could be 1 human year to 5 animal years, then change to 1:9. The scale for cats does this.

My quick math says this:
One beardie baby year=6 human years
One beardie juvie year=8 human years
One beardie adult year=5.5 human years
One beardie senior year=7 human years,

with an average of 6.6 human years to one beardie year overall. This is for captives, of course.

None of this really answers your questions, though. Since perfect conditions don't exist and can't exist, I don't think it really matters what they COULD live to. It's the same for any animal, including humans. There are too many documented instances where perfect conditions were thought to have been met, and death came far sooner than expected.

Like with humans, there have been people who ate right, exercised right, slept well, didn't overexert themselves while working, were relatively happy and content, had good mental heath, no bad habits, and they still died in their 40s. On the flip side, most of the centegenarians I've read about smoked, drank, ate what they wanted in moderation, etc.

I imagine it's the same with beardies. When it's their time, it's their time.

 

[ChileanTaco]

Why I asked, it was more a rhetorical question pointing towards "it does not make much sense to compare as different things happen in different phases of their live, sometimes at the same time, sometimes not".
One could, of course, make up a relation "one human year equals", but after they are adults (when they don't grow anymore, when they lay eggs, 18 months... also arbitrary) I think it's even harder to say.
Just, for example:
- many animals can have offspring before they are fully grown vs. for dragons it doesn't look like that's the case
- some animals (and humans) typically look very different while getting older (think of: grey hair in humans) even if healthy vs. a bearded dragon looks almost always the same as an adult despite its age when it is healthy (from a photo, I could not really say whether a healthy dragon is 2 or 10 years, but from a photo I could easily spot whether a human or even a dog is rather in his first or second half of expected lifetime, and for sure could say 40 year old human vs. 90 year old)

There are too many documented instances where perfect conditions were thought to have been met, and death came far sooner than expected.

Of course they are exceptions (e.g.: genetic conditions, early cancer), both for humans and for (other) animals. But still one could say that e.g. dying at a given age is rather young or rather old.

I think for bearded dragons, we don't know very much. The ones that were born 15 years ago in captivity and from which some still live as pets - I bet most of them haven't met living conditions at least during some part of their live we now consider as "optimal", "it should be done that way" (especially regarding light and food). Are the ones from that time that are still alive a super rare exception like humans being 130 year old, or would that be more the 90-year-old human - somebody with an age not everybody reaches but not totally unusual?

Like with humans, there have been people who ate right, exercised right, slept well, didn't overexert themselves while working, were relatively happy and content, had good mental heath, no bad habits, and they still died in their 40s. On the flip side, most of the centegenarians I've read about smoked, drank, ate what they wanted in moderation, etc.

Absolutely - and I would never "point a finger" (if somebody gets ill or dies young). I'm myself a disabled person who did nothing wrong (and my parents also not), always loved eating my veggies (yep) and still had by far the most doctor appointments and hospital stays of all kids in the class because of a genetic thing. Sometimes it is just like that.

I imagine it's the same with beardies. When it's their time, it's their time.

To some extent for sure. But we have seen very often also here in the forum dragons who struggle with health issues caused by their former owners, likely shortening their lifespan. Also people nowadays understanding why their childhood beardie didn't make it and survived only for a few weeks (owner not knowing of UV light 30 years ago, tank was placed "nicely warm and bright by the window") or that those crooked legs and humped spine that might fit well to a scaly, spiky little guy really weren't normal.