As our relationship with animals has developed, so has the issue of their aging considerably faster than we become harder to accept. But why is this the case? Here are 5 reasons why animals age faster than humans.
The Brain
Humans have larger brains than animals. These bigger brains use a huge amount of energy and take a long time to develop, resulting in a slower journey to maturity and a lower number of reproduction. Animals with smaller brains can grow faster, meaning their usual survival strategy is to reach sexual maturity quickly and breed in larger numbers.
Changing Roles
Certain species of animals began to serve utilitarian roles within human day-to-day life. Cats, for example, were put to use to keep rodents at bay on farms or ships. Dogs were bred for specific tasks, such as herding cattle, burrowing for pests, and protecting livestock. Many of these breeds have a shorter lifespan.
Size Matters
When it comes to dogs, bigger breeds age faster. Studies suggest that this could be due to the insulin-like growth factor 1 hormone (IGF-1), which plays a vital role in the functioning of joints - especially the predisposition to hip dysplasia in larger dogs. Metabolism, and its resulting expenditure of an animal's tissue, is also believed to be a factor in the aging process for larger dogs.
Heart To Heart
dogs’ hearts beat faster than ours do, sometimes leading to tachycardia. Tachycardia in dogs is essentially an abnormally fast heart rate and can be triggered by a range of things including exercise, excitement, pain, stress, or even disease.
Wear And Tear
Dogs love and need exercise, but overworking your animal can have detrimental effects on their health, including heat exhaustion, and muscular pain (which can lead to exertional rhabdomyolysis, a condition in which the muscle tissue breaks down), and the deterioration of paw pads.