11 of the oldest animals ever, ranked by age

Albatrosses, whose wings can stretch 11 feet, are able to live 50 years or more. The longest-living albatross in the US — and one of the world's oldest known wild birds overall — is a Laysan albatross named Wisdom.

Believed to be at least 68 years old, Wisdom has far surpassed her species' typical lifespan of 12-40 years. She has made the news several times for continuing to lay eggs well into her old age. Wisdom returns annually to a nest site at Midway Atoll in the North Pacific Ocean.

Asian elephants can typically live into their mid-50s. However, a few have made it into their 80s. Lin Wang, an Asian elephant at Taipei Zoo in Taiwan, lived to be 86. At the time of his death in 2003, he held the Guinness World Record for being the oldest elephant in captivity.

Dakshayani, an elephant at the Chengalloor Mahadeva Temple in Kerala, India also had a long life. Given the nickname "Gaja Muthassi" (meaning "elephant granny"), she died in February at 88 years of age.

In the US, there are several Asian elephants in their 70s: Shirley, who lives at Tennessee's Elephant Sanctuary, is 70 years old, while Ambika at the National Zoo in Washington, DC is 71. It's worth noting, though, that these ages are often estimated.

Cockatoos are any of 20 bird species that belong to the parrot subfamily Cacatuinae. They generally have a lifespan of 60 years, but some have lived for over a century in captivity.

For instance, Fred, a sulfur-crested cockatoo at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary in Tasmania, Australia, is now 104.

Another Australian sulfur-crested cockatoo known as "Cocky Bennett" reportedly lived until the age of 120 before he died in 1916. Bennett resided at a hotel.

Cookie, a Major's Mitchell cockatoo, is also famous for his longevity. He lived to be 83 at Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago, Illinois and died in 2016.

Giant tortoises are known for their longevity. One of the best-known examples is Lonesome George, who was the last surviving member of the Pinta Island species. He was believed to be more than 100 years old when he died in 2012.

Jonathan, a giant tortoise born in the Seychelles islands, is still going strong. At 187 years old, he's been designated the world's oldest living land animal by Guinness World Records. Since 1882 (50 years after his birth), Jonathan has lived on St. Helena, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Jonathan is just one year shy of claiming the title of oldest chelonian ever. (Chelonia is the scientific order that contains turtles, tortoises, and terrapins.) That's an honor held by Tu'i Malila, a Madagascar radiated tortoise gifted to the royal family of Tonga by Captain Cook. She died when she was at least 188 years old in 1965.

Tuatara are descended from an extinct group of reptiles that roamed the Earth alongside the dinosaurs. These scaled creatures are endemic to New Zealand, where they inhabit 32 islands. The creatures can live up to or past 100 years of age.

One of the oldest living tuatara, Henry, is at least 120. He lives at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery, where there's a "Tuatarium" habitat.

Henry his mate Mildred were still laying eggs together as of 2009, when he was already 111 (though Mildred was thought to be in her 70s).

With a lifespan that can exceed 200 years, the bowhead whale is the longest-living marine mammal. In addition to its longevity, the species is known for its namesake noggin, which contains the largest mouth of any creature in the animal kingdom.

According to Medical Daily, a group of Eskimos in Alaska caught a bowhead whale in 2007 that had six ancient harpoons in its flesh. The harpoons dated back to the late 1800s, suggesting the whale was about 211 years old at the time it died.

In the 2016 study, researchers found that, on average, Greenland sharks have a lifespan of about 272 years. Yet the sharks, which are native to the North Atlantic, can live upwards of 400 years, as evidenced by one very old unnamed Greenland shark thought to be 400.

The largest sharks noted in the study measured 493 centimeters (16 feet) and 502 centimeters (16.5 feet) long, and had lifespans of 335 and 392 years, respectively.

A potential secret to the species' longevity might be its slow growth rate of one centimeter (0.39 inches) per year.

Ocean quahogs, a type of clam, typically live 100 to 200 years. One of these clams, nicknamed Ming, was 507 years old when it was found in 2006 off the coast of Iceland. To calculate Ming's age, researchers counted the bands in its shell.

Ming happened to be part of a group of 200 clams that were dredged from the ocean and frozen as part of a research project about climate change.

The only thing better than living a long time is finding a way to outwit death. One jellyfish species, Turritopsis dohrnii, is virtually immortal. As the jelly ages, it eventually settles onto the sea floor and becomes a colony of polyps (individual organisms). The polyps then spawn new, genetically identical jellyfish.

If a Turritopsis dohrnii gets physically harmed or starts to starve, it can transform back into a polyp at will — then in turn produce new, genetically identical jellyfish.

Many of the oldest creatures on the planet live underwater, corals included. A study by researchers at Penn State University in 2016 found that some genotypes of Acropora palmata (elkhorn coral) in Florida and the Caribbean are more than 5,000 years old.