Did you know some animals pass away just after 1 day it was born? Yep, well that is true. Just like there are longest-living animals, there are also shortest living animals. Animals living with ranges of 2 years to even 24 hours.
Many factors cause these animals to only live for a short period. Some of those factors are their ability to metabolize, the size of their body and even their environment.
So today we will talk about animals that don’t have much time to live, so rather than wasting more time, let’s get to know shortest living animals from least to most.
- Mosquito Fish
The mosquitofish, just as the name says, is a small-sized fish that is native to the United States of America. The males only live up to two years, while the female fishes can live up to a little more than two years or even up to 3 years if kept as pets.
A fun fact about this animal is that it is the perfect type of fish to control mosquito populations. So if you consider having mosquito fish as pets, don’t forget to learn the easy ways to clean your fish tanks.
- Panther Chameleon
Who doesn’t know a chameleon? One of the most breathtaking animals on Earth. The chameleon can change its color and disguise itself to its surroundings to prevent being caught by a predator. This specific type of chameleon, on the other hand, can only live for 1 year.
One interesting fact about this chameleon is that due to its short lifespan, it can mate and reproduce a lot of times. Sometimes, they could already even be dead before their eggs hatch.
There’s more about how long it takes for a chameleon to lay eggs if you are interested to learn more. Or you might be interested to keep this exotic animal as a pet, so learn about things to consider before investing in a chameleon.
- Dragon Fly
The dragonfly is a four-winged insect with 5000 different species all around the globe. This colorful insect has a lifespan of 4 months, but even so, they would probably die quicker. This is due to spiders, or other predators that would eat the dragonfly.
Although this animal only lives for 4 months, it is also considered one of the oldest animals and has existed for around 300 million years. Other prehistoric animals still exist today.
- Houseflies
They’re everywhere, and you can find them everywhere. You would probably see this insect daily around the house. The lifetime of this animal is only 4 weeks.
Although this animal lives for a short period, it is never easy to kill this animal. This is because a housefly can see behind them, and they also have the incredible reaction time to avoid harm.
Within 4 weeks, a housefly could reproduce and lay more eggs. Every time a female housefly lays its eggs, it could lay up to 1000 eggs.
- Drone Ants
Drone ants are special types of ants with wings. The drone ants are normal, but specifically known as the male members of an ant colony. Unlike other ants, the drone ants are equipped with wings.
The life cycle of a drone ant only lasts for 3 weeks, and sometimes even shorter. A drone ant would die even faster after mating with a female ant.
A fun fact about this animal is that it is born from an unfertilized egg. So these ants are not like typical ants and do not work in nests. Besides the unique drone ant, there are also other types of ants or even creepy ants.
- Gastrotrichs
A gastrotrich is probably one of those animals you never heard of. This is probably because you can’t even see this animal with naked eyes. The gastrotrichs are microorganisms that live underwater.
They can grow up to a maximum length of 3 millimeters and have transparent bodies. An amazing fact about this animal is that it has two reproductive organs, a male and a female. This makes the animal both a male and a female.
- Mayflies
The long-awaited 24-hour living animal is a mayfly. There are 2500 different types of mayflies. The most surprising part about this animal is that some types of mayflies could even die within hours.
And within those hours, a mayfly would already grow to be an adult and is ready to reproduce. So with all the time they have, their only duty is to consume and reproduce as fast as they can.