In the twilight of their lives, the world’s oldest creatures carry the weight of wisdom, experience, and resilience.
Yet, these elders — fish that spawn in abundance, coral that shelters marine life, or elephants that guide their herds — are vanishing.
The causes are disturbingly familiar: overfishing, habitat destruction, trophy hunting, and climate change.
A new review led by researchers at Charles Darwin University in Australia lays bare the ecological void left behind when these venerable beings are lost, reports Shreya Dasgupta.
Older animals, the study finds, stabilize populations, enhance reproduction, and transmit essential survival knowledge across generations. Their loss ripples through ecosystems, destabilizing social structures and threatening biodiversity. Consider the oldest fish mothers, whose eggs thrive in optimal habitats, or the matriarch elephants that lead herds to water during droughts. These contributions are irreplaceable within a human lifetime, making the decline of elder animals a tragedy not just for wildlife but for the planet.
It’s not too late; the course of history can still be changed.
The study calls for a shift in conservation priorities: Protecting old-growth coral, enacting no-take fishing zones, and embedding the value of age into global assessments like the IUCN Red List. Such measures could safeguard not only these remarkable creatures but the ecosystems that depend on them.
Humanity has long exploited age for profit — harvesting the biggest, oldest, and wisest. But perhaps now, with science as our guide, we can begin to value age for its role in sustaining life.
Read the full story by Shreya Dasgupta here.
Banner image of an elephant herd by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.
This story first appeared on Mongabay
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