Lessons from the Greenland shark?

Excerpted from Robert Whitcomb's Aug. 18 Digital Diary column.

Does the Greenland shark have lessons for us?   Scientists have discovered that these creatures, deepwater predators, are apparently the longest-living vertebrates. Researchers studied 28 of them. One was about 400 years old. Cold water is apparently good for longevity!

Sounds heartening. On the other hand, these very slow-growing creatures don’t have sex until they’re about 150. Perhaps of more importance/hope to us mammals is that a fellow mammal – a bowhead whale – was estimated to be 211 and that that species starts having sex in its early teens….