preservation of telomere length is the thing with turtles, I believe. Essentially they don't degrade anywhere near as quickly as with mammals, meaning that they

preservation of telomere length is the thing with turtles, I believe. Essentially they don't degrade anywhere near as quickly as with mammals, meaning that they continue being healthy despite old age. Probably a different mechanism with the Olm (a kind of cave dwelling amphibian), different again with the Greenland Shark (which maybe the longest lived vertebrate).