Why Can Bowhead Whales Live Up to 211 Years? Why Do Naked Mole Rats, Among Rodents With an Average Lifespan of 3 Years, Defy the Odds and Survive for 41? And Why Can Bats Flit Gracefully for Over 42 Years While Spreading Viruses Yet Remaining Unharmed?
It’s not just these fascinating animals. Even seemingly ordinary marine plants, like brown algae, produce fucoidan, a compound that extended mouse lifespan by 13% in experiments.
These are exactly the kinds of scientific mysteries that intrigue Dr. Vera Gorbunova, Co-Director of the Aging Research Center at the University of Rochester.
📸 Figure: Vera Gorbunova
Growing up in an academic family with two physicist parents, Vera set her sights on a career in science early on. Her connection to aging biology began in her sophomore year at St. Petersburg University, when she attended a guest lecture on cellular senescence and the Hayflick limit (the theory of finite cellular lifespan). From that moment, she was hooked.
After completing her PhD and postdoctoral training, she founded her lab at the University of Rochester in 2004, focusing on long-lived species.
To measure telomerase levels across different animals, she spent over a year sourcing rodent specimens—mice, beavers, capybaras—from all over the world, carefully freezing them for transport back to her lab.
Through these extraordinary efforts, Vera discovered that unlike the short-lived model organisms we often use in aging research (like nematodes, fruit flies, and mice), animals like naked mole rats and bowhead whales can teach us much more about the biology of longevity—and even inspire the discovery of novel anti-aging compounds.
Want to hear directly from Prof. Gorbunova? She’ll be presenting her findings at the 6th Aging Intervention Forum in Shanghai, September 20–21. Click below and reply with “第六届” (Sixth Forum) to unlock registration.
01
Nature’s Longevity Mechanisms
“We wanted to do something more interesting than the traditional approach.”
—Vera Gorbunova [9]
In the early days of her lab, Vera and her team studied the evolution of tumor suppression in rodents. After discovering a DNA repair protein expressed at five times the level in cancer cells compared to normal cells, she became increasingly interested in the connection between longevity and cancer resistance.
She noted:
“If you keep mice in cages safe from predators, 90% of them will die of cancer.” [1]
Yet paradoxically, mice exhibit high expression of longevity-associated proteins like telomerase, granting them rapid healing. The result? Mice are classic examples of “live fast, die young” biology.
This highlights a critical limitation of using mice to study aging: their fast-paced life cycle doesn’t adequately explain the apparent contradiction between longevity and cancer resistance.
To unravel these mysteries, Vera turned to long-lived species in nature, where evolution has crafted unique longevity mechanisms.
🐋 Bowhead Whales and Elephants: Giants of Longevity
Vera first focused on large animals like whales and elephants.
In 1977, British epidemiologist Richard Peto proposed that animals with more cells and longer lifespans should have higher cancer risk, since more cell divisions mean more chances for mutations. Yet humans (with 1000x more cells than mice) aren’t plagued by cancer at a proportionally higher rate. This phenomenon is known as Peto’s Paradox [11].
To resolve this paradox, scientists discovered that large, long-lived animals have evolved extra anti-cancer defenses:
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Elephants have 19 additional copies of the TP53 gene, enhancing DNA damage responses and triggering apoptosis in potentially cancerous cells.
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Bowhead whales lack these TP53 duplications but possess extra copies of DNA repair genes like ERCC1 and PCNA. Their slower metabolism likely reduces cellular damage and mutations, too.
In these giants, evolution has installed robust “anti-cancer patches” to counteract their increased cancer risk. Coupled with controlled apoptosis and slower metabolic rates, these traits help them thrive as “super-centenarians” of the animal kingdom.
🐀 Naked Mole Rats and Blind Mole Rats: Long-Lived Underground Dwellers
What about small animals? Naked mole rats live up to 41 years, and blind mole rats up to 21—10x longer than similar-sized rodents.
Naked mole rats, found in East Africa, have adapted to subterranean life with hairless skin and unique longevity traits. They secrete high-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid (HMW-HA), which:
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Acts as an antioxidant, reducing ROS damage to DNA and proteins.
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Activates tumor suppressors like p16INK4A through CD44 receptors [3].
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Triggers a special anti-cancer mechanism called early contact inhibition (ECI) [4], preventing cells from proliferating uncontrollably.
📖 Normal cells stop dividing upon contact with neighbors; cancer cells ignore this and keep growing. Naked mole rats are hypersensitive to contact, halting growth early to avoid tumor formation.
Their cells also resist reprogramming factors (like Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and Myc), preventing malignant transformation.
Other longevity secrets:
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Enhanced DNA repair mechanisms.
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Hyperactive SIRT6, a protein critical for DNA repair, telomere maintenance, and glucose homeostasis—also seen in long-lived humans (centenarians) [9].
Blind mole rats, living in Middle Eastern forests and valleys, use a different anti-cancer tactic: concerted cell death (CCD) [5]. When abnormal cell proliferation occurs, they release interferon-β, inducing a mix of necrosis and apoptosis to eliminate rogue cells.
They also produce HMW-HA as an antioxidant and exhibit low heparanase activity, strengthening the extracellular matrix and inhibiting tumor spread.
Inspired by these animals, Vera’s team is exploring ways to increase HMW-HA in human tissues and has shown that fucoidan, a compound from brown algae, activates SIRT6 and improves frailty scores in elderly mice [12].
🦇 Bats, Squirrels, and Other Longevity Mysteries
Other animals also fascinate Vera:
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Bats (lifespan: 7–42 years) may owe their longevity to exceptional antioxidant defenses [6]. Little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) produce fewer free radicals per unit of oxygen consumed [7] and may clear mitochondrial ROS more efficiently [8].
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Even cute gray squirrels can live up to 24 years, though their longevity mechanisms remain under investigation.
🗓 Meet Prof. Gorbunova in Shanghai
On September 20–21, Vera Gorbunova will appear at the 6th Aging Intervention Forum to discuss her work on longevity animals.
Click below and reply Sixth Forum to unlock registration and explore nature’s secrets of extended lifespan!
02
Prof. Gorbunova’s 3 Habits for Healthy Aging
Like other leaders in aging biology, Vera doesn’t just study longevity—she lives it. When asked about anti-aging habits, she recommends:
✅ A diet rich in fruits and vegetables (especially wild berries, which are packed with longevity-promoting flavonoids).
✅ Regular moderate exercise.
✅ Stress management.
“Centenarians tend to be optimistic and maintain a positive attitude. That says a lot!” [9]
📸 Figure: A smiling Prof. Gorbunova [10]
Together with her husband and long-term collaborator, Prof. Andrei Seluanov, Vera continues to push the frontiers of longevity research.
In August 2023, they co-authored a groundbreaking study in Nature showing how naked mole rat HMW-HA could extend lifespan in other species [13]. By May 2024, they discovered that fucoidan from brown algae activates SIRT6, extends lifespan by 13%, and alleviates inflammation and aging.
