Homo_sapiens AnAge entry for Homo sapiens

Classification (HAGRID: 02789)

Taxonomy
Kingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
            Order: Primates (Taxon entry)
                Family: Hominidae
                    Genus: Homo
Species
Homo sapiens
Common name
Human
Synonyms
Homo aethiopicus, Homo americanus, Homo arabicus, Homo australasicus, Homo cafer, Homo capensis, Homo columbicus, Homo drennani, Homo grimaldii, Homo hottentotus, Homo hyperboreus, Homo indicus, Homo japeticus, Homo melaninus, Homo monstrosus, Homo neptunianus, Homo palestinus, Homo patagonus, Homo priscus, Homo scythicus, Homo sinicus, Homo spelaeus, Homo troglodytes, Homo wadjakensis, Homo sapiens cro-magnonensis, Homo sapiens grimaldiensis, Homo fossilis proto-aethiopicus, Homo fossilis protoaethiopicus, Homo sapiens cromagnonensis

Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits

IMR
0.0002/year
MRDT
8 years
Maximum longevity
122.5 years (captivity)
Source
ref. 29
Sample size
Huge
Data quality
High
Observations

Succinctly, we humans age gradually and exhibit reproductive senescence. Although women tend to outlive men and there are gender differences in age-related pathologies, overall there are probably no differences between the sexes in terms of rate of ageing. Likewise, populations in different environments do not appear to greatly differ in rate of ageing even though they can differ on specific age-related diseases. The human mortality rate begin to increase exponentially after about age 30, doubling roughly every 8 years. The body's functional decline, however, starts after the sexual peak, roughly at age 19, and perhaps some functions decline even earlier in life [0014]. A peculiar phenomena, though not unique of humans, is that the MRDT increases after about age 65. This has been suggested to be a statistical effect rather than any unknown biological process [0031]. Numerous physiological, endocrine, cellular and molecular changes have been observed with age in humans [0975]. Cardiovascular diseases are the major cause of death in modern societies, followed by several types of cancer; the increase in lifespan is also leading to an increase in the incidence of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease [0981].

French woman Jeanne Calment is recorded as the longest-lived human being and was over 122 years of age when she died in 1997 [0029]. Compared to other species, of course, the maximum longevity of humans is based on a considerably larger sample. Therefore, it has been argued that, for comparative purposes, it is more adequate to use as human maximum longevity 90 or 100 years [0715].

The average human life expectancy worldwide is 66 years, ranging from 39 years in Zambia to 82 years in Japan. Among hunter-gatherers, the average life expectancy was probably around 30 years [0841].

Studies comparing ageing-associated differentially methylated positions (aDMPs) between mouse, dog, naked mole-rat, rhesus monkey, humpback whale and human, have shown that lifespan in these mammalian species is strongly correlated with the rate of change of methylation levels in aDMPs. Additionally, these methylation dynamics are a measure of cellular ageing [1315].

Life history traits (averages)

Female sexual maturity
4,745 days
Male sexual maturity
5,110 days
Gestation
280 days
Weaning
Litter size
1 (viviparous)
Litters per year
0.3
Inter-litter interval
639 days
Weight at birth
3,313 g
Weight at weaning
Adult weight
62,035 g
Postnatal growth rate
0.0005 days-1 (from Gompertz function)
Maximum longevity residual
463%

Metabolism

Typical body temperature
310ºK or 37.0ºC or 98.6ºF
Basal metabolic rate
82.7800 W
Body mass
70000.0 g
Metabolic rate per body mass
0.001183 W/g

Species in other databases

GenAge
Genes have been associated with ageing in this organism

References

External Resources

Integrated Taxonomic Information System
ITIS 180092
Animal Diversity Web
ADW account
Encyclopaedia of Life
Search EOL
NCBI Taxonomy
Taxonomy ID 9606
Entrez
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Ageing Literature
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Images
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Internet
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