3 ms·
From a fast search in Google, life expectancy in bats is 5-15 years. A long life of 70-80 years gives more time to accumulate mutations and get a cancer. Also,
by gus_massa 1y ago
From a fast search in Google, life expectancy in bats is 5-15 years. A long life of 70-80 years gives more time to accumulate mutations and get a cancer.
Also, probably only bats in zoos get a cancer diagnosis. Most ills bats just die in the wild and are eaten by other animals.
- inglor_cz 1y agoMany species of bats live longer than that. Like 40. When compared to other mammals, bats live very long lives relative to their tiny size. Also, short-lived animals get cancer all of the time. Mice, dogs, cats. The idea of cancer being caused by passive accumulation of mutations over time looks appealing, but does not seem to correspond to actual frequency of cancer mapped by body size (because more cells = more chances of some cell going haywire), nor to maximum age. Anti-cancer capabilities of a given organism seem to be more important. There are gene variants that are protective against cancer, and the capability of the immune system to kill suspicious cells matters too. (Note that almost all new efficient oncological treatments in the last decade or so involve the immune system of the patient.)
- tarun_anand 1y agoSpeaking of size vs cancer elephants rarely get cancer too!
- sedgjh23 1y agoOn a related note, for those interested, a quick about Peto’s Paradox was quite fun. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peto's_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peto's_paradox
- luckydata 1y agoThere's a great Kurz gesagt video about it. Whales get the least cancer! https://youtu.be/1AElONvi9WQ?si=rhZjgpkORBTC0D8r https://youtu.be/1AElONvi9WQ?si=rhZjgpkORBTC0D8r