Why do dogs age faster than humans?

Cuz they don't do XFit. Duh.

because a dog lives its life to the fullest equivalent to the 10 times amount of time it takes you to bitch and moan crawling out the door for a run when the dog is ready to roll.

Little brains.

Animals with little brains can grow faster, so their typical survival strategy is to breed quickly and mature quickly. Because overpopulation would disadvantage all of them, there is selective pressure for them to die quickly too.

Humans and apes have big brains which use tons of energy and take a long time to develop. So humans have to live a long time for their offspring to survive. The birth rate is still higher than some animals, but there's less pressure to die early because overpopulation doesn't happen as readily.

Tortoises have a very low birth rate and live an extremely long time. It's just part of their evolutionary strategy. Humans or even dogs would live 200 years too if it were good for the species.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Little brains.

This bodes not well for letsrun nation.

have to point out wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

Little brains.

This bodes not well for letsrun nation.

But we're also slow like tortoises...

If you were forced to eat the same crap from a bowl once a day you wouldn't live as long as most humans either.

Dogs also don't live long because they descend from Wolves.

Tooth wear takes out a lot of Wolves. By the time you have spent 10 years getting the crap kicked out of you and gnawing on bones and frozen meat there really isn't a gentle retirement waiting for you.

It's mostly because they can run faster than humans. The faster an animal can run, the faster they age.

This is why there are so many 25 year old Kenyans winning college races as freshmen and why Haile G looks to be 10 years older than his reported age.

Tortoises have a very low birth rate and live an extremely long time. It's just part of their evolutionary strategy. Humans or even dogs would live 200 years too if it were good for the species.[/quote]

Why? Does not fit in with big brains theory. Most tortoises and turtles actaully have a high birth rate as well and they live a long time. You are not exactly David Attenborough

They have a low survival rate for newly hatched eggs.

Thanks for all of the answers. The prevalent explanation is that of species survival strategy, which implies that the aging process can be slowed to some degree through (perhaps specific) genetic changes.

gilt wrote:

Thanks for all of the answers. The prevalent explanation is that of species survival strategy, which implies that the aging process can be slowed to some degree through (perhaps specific) genetic changes.

That's quite a leap, as the opposite is implied, that genetics make no difference.

because that's what champions do

Dog years, bro, it's simple math.

gilt wrote:

Thanks for all of the answers. The prevalent explanation is that of species survival strategy, which implies that the aging process can be slowed to some degree through (perhaps specific) genetic changes.

Humans have more developed repair mechanisms than dogs. Metabolism causes damage.