By Raza Mehdi
Jan 04 2023
One of the shortest lifespans of any bird on Earth is the ruby-throated hummingbird. Found in North and Central America, it lives for an energetic three to five years only.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
The brightly coloured chameleons are native to Madagascar. The female Panther Chameleons live for 3 years, while the males live for 6 years.
Panther Chameleon
At three or four inches long, the common mouse is adaptable to live in many environments- homes, farms, city buildings, or the woods. This small rodent has an average lifespan of 12-18 months.
Common Mouse
Dragonflies are ancient insects that have evolved about 300 million years ago. There are 5000 known species of dragonflies in the world, and the maximum lifespan of adult dragonflies is about six months.
Dragonfly
The busy honey worker bee rightfully gets its name as it spends its short life of around 30-60 days flying to collect pollen and nectar without any break.
Worker bee
Houseflies are the most common and irritating insects in every house. An adult female housefly lives for about 25 days (males live for about 15 days). It varies depending on region, temperature, availability of food sources and other factors.
Houseflies
Drone ants are the male members of an ant colony. They are born from unfertilised eggs and only have half the chromosomes of a female ant. Their sole purpose is to breed; after that, they die. The average lifespan for male ants is only 1-2 weeks.
Drone Ants
It looks like a colourful butterfly, but it is not! The luna moth is a giant silkworm moth. Distributed across North America, the beautiful insect graces the Earth for just seven days.
Luna moth
The Gastrotricha, often called hairy-bellied worms, are microscopic animals abundant in freshwater and marine environments. Gastrotrichs have a total lifespan of just 3 to 21 days!
Gastrotricha
The dainty mayfly, an insect found worldwide in clean freshwater habitats, lives for just one or two days, the shortest lifespan of any known animal. They don't even have mouths as they feed in the air.
Mayflies