Do All Reptiles Continue to Grow Throughout Their Entire Lives
We can all think back to a time when we were children and wondering just how tall we'd be when we were adults.
Kids are so eager to grow up, but what if they never stopped growing?
We humans may have parts of ourselves that never stop growing, such as our nails and hair, but some animals never stop growing.
25 Animals That Never Stop Growing
An animal that never stops growing is labeled as having indeterminate growth.
These animals will constantly grow, as long as they have the space and food necessary to grow.
The vast majority of animals that grow indeterminately are fish, reptiles, and amphibians.
Indeterminate growth is part of the reason that fish, reptiles, and amphibians are able to live as long as they do.
The other factor that plays into their long lifespan is negligible senescence, which is the lack of biological aging.
This is achieved most commonly by the fast replacement of cells and an animal's organs not mutating too heavily.
1. Goldfish
Goldfish are best known for their ability to never stop growing.
Although goldfish are often thought to be small, short-lived pets, they are actually capable of growing quite large and living for 40 years.
The oldest pet goldfish to ever live is Goldie the goldfish.
Goldie was bought in the 1960s by his last owner's parents.
Pauline Evans began taking care of him in the 1990s after her parents had passed away.
While Goldie was alive, he attracted major media attention, and his owner had earned money through having him appear in local shows.
His owner donated all of the money earned by the goldfish to a school and care center that helped young children with physical disabilities.
The "Goldie Fund" was also set up to build and maintain an aquarium for the school.
By the time Goldie passed away in 2005, he was three to four times bigger than his owner's hands.
He also began to lose all of his coloring.
His swim bladder failure ended up causing his death.
2. Timber Rattlesnake
Almost all of the different species of snakes are indeterminate growers.
In the wild, timber rattlesnakes are able to live for 30 years and can grow to be more than five feet in length.
In captivity, the oldest timber rattlesnake was 37 years old.
In captivity, timber rattlesnakes can grow to be over six feet long.
These snakes can grow slowly over time, as long as they have the food security and space to do so.
Although these snakes are long, they only tend to weigh one to two pounds.
Timber rattlesnakes are venomous and hunt rodents, such as mice, squirrels, rats, and rabbits.
Occasionally, timber rattlesnakes will go after small birds, but rodents tend to make for much easier prey.
3. Lobster
Lobsters are capable of growing to massive sizes, as long as they don't become another animal's meal.
Lobsters are capable of living for a century, during which they never stop growing.
While lobsters that are five to seven years old may be a pound or two, a 50-year-old lobster can weigh 20 to 40 pounds.
When fishing for lobsters, professional fishermen know to toss lobsters that are too small or too big back into the water.
Small lobsters are young and need time to grow.
Large lobsters help breed larger lobsters and improve the gene pool.
4. Rougheye Rockfish
The key to the rougheye rockfish's ability to grow as long as they live is thanks to how long it takes them to grow.
Rougheye rockfish can take 20 to 27 years to even reach reproductive maturity.
The fish continues to grow even after reaching adulthood.
Similar to goldfish, the rougheye rockfish need plenty of space in order to grow.
Although most rougheye rockfish are an average of 38 inches in length, many of them end up as meals for seals and other larger fish.
The rougheye rockfish loves to eat shrimp, walleye pollock, snailfish, and a variety of other small fish in their area.
These fish live all over the planet, but most are only found in the sea near Japan and California.
5. Crocodile
Crocodiles look like dinosaurs, especially as they get older.
Crocodiles never stop growing.
They are capable of living for more than 100 years and getting to massive lengths.
The largest crocodile in captivity is Cassius, who is 112 years old and just a few inches short of being 18 feet long.
He is a saltwater crocodile, which is known to be aggressive towards humans, unlike their freshwater relatives.
The oldest crocodile in captivity was caught by Steve Irwin and his father, Bob Irwin, in the 1970s.
The crocodile was believed to be sacred by the local tribe of Aborigines who had been watching him for generations.
The Irwins caught the freshwater crocodile after he had been shot and blinded.
They look the crocodile back to the Australian Zoo and named him Mr. Freshie.
Mr. Freshie lived to be 140 and passed away in 2010.
6. Galapagos Tortoise
Tortoises are known for living for an extremely long time and growing to massive lengths.
The Galapagos tortoise, also known as the giant tortoise, is the largest of its species.
Similar to how rougheye rockfish achieve their longevity through a slower maturity rate, Galapagos tortoises take about 20 to 25 years to reproductively mature.
Giant tortoises can easily live 100 years in captivity and reach well over 800 pounds.
They can also grow to be almost six feet in length.
These massive turtles are the perfect example of an animal with negligible senescence.
7. Smallmouth Bass
Many fish are indeterminate growers, and the smallmouth bass is no exception.
Smallmouth bass can be found in all different bodies of freshwater, such as ponds, streams, rivers, and lakes.
The smallmouth bass that lives in ponds tends to be the smallest, while smallmouth bass that lives in lakes tends to be the largest.
On average, smallmouth bass is about 12 to 16 inches.
When smallmouth bass are given enough space and food to grow, they can grow to be over 27 inches.
The females tend to be larger than the males.
8. Goliath Bird-eating Spider
Goliath bird-eating spiders are native to Venezuela and Brazil.
These monstrous spiders can grow to the size of dinner plates, with legs that are 11 inches long.
Their bodies are four to five inches long.
Female goliath bird-eating spiders can live for a decade, but males will only live for a couple of months.
Females are able to continuously grow while males don't molt or grow.
As their name suggests, these spiders eat small birds, but will also hunt mice, frogs, and lizards.
When in danger, they will put their hairs together to make a hissing sound that can be heard 15 feet away.
9. Green Anaconda
Many snakes will continuously grow as they age.
The average lifespan of a green anaconda may only be 10 years, but during this time, they can grow to be up to 500 pounds and 20 to 30 feet long.
While these massive creatures may seem intimidating, they're actually non-venomous.
Normally, green anacondas like to make meals out of turtles and fish that swim in South American waters.
However, there have been reported sightings of green anacondas eating jaguars.
Females tend to be much larger than males.
During the breeding season, females will eat more and sometimes will even eat the males that try to mate with them.
Green anacondas constrict their prey and unhinge their jaws in order to eat their prey whole.
10. King Crab
King crabs are able to grow quite large as long as they aren't caught or eaten by another creature.
King crabs are capable of living for 30 years and weighing up to 24 pounds.
The vast majority of king crabs that are hatched don't reach adulthood.
The king crab's ability to grow for as long as it lives comes from the way they grow, molting.
While maturing, king crabs will molt many times.
After they enter adulthood, they will molt in order to breed, getting larger with each molt.
When king crabs first hatch, they are tiny enough to float in the water, eating plankton as they float along.
Eventually, the crabs will become heavy enough to sink to the ocean floor.
By the time they are walking along the ocean floor, they are smaller than a dime.
11. Shark
Sharks won't stop growing as long as their environment allows for it.
Not only do sharks never stop growing in size, but they also never stop growing teeth.
When sharks lose teeth in the front row, the teeth from the rows behind will move forward and new teeth will grow in the back.
In a shark's lifetime, it will grow more than 20,000 teeth.
On average, sharks will have five to 15 rows of teeth on each jaw, but bull sharks will have 25 rows of teeth.
Shark's teeth are filled with fluoride, which is the same substance in toothpaste that helps prevent cavities.
12. Kangaroo
Kangaroos are one of the few mammals in the world that never stop growing.
One of the largest kangaroos was Roger the Buff Kangaroo, who was six feet, seven inches tall.
He weighed nearly 200 pounds.
Kangaroos start off life smaller than cherries.
The joeys stay and grow in their mothers' pouches until they are able to take care of themselves.
If the mother becomes pregnant while she still has a joey in her pouch, the younger joey will enter a dormant state until their sibling has left the pouch.
13. Quahog Clam
The quahog clam lives for multiple centuries and can be found all over the world.
The oldest quahog clam was named Ming and was 507 years old.
You can tell how old a quahog clam is based on the rings on its shell.
Each year, the shell of the quahog clam grows a little wider and grows a new ring.
You can tell their age in the same way you identify the age of a tree.
In order to find out exactly how old a quahog clam is, you have to open it and check the rings on the inside of the shell.
However, this kills the quahog clam.
14. Blanding's Turtle
Blanding's Turtles are medium-sized turtles that have a permanent grin on their faces thanks to their unique markings.
While wild Blanding's turtles may grow to be seven to 11 inches, they have been observed to grow larger in captivity.
The Blanding's turtle's bright colors may be useful for charming humans, but it makes them more noticeable to their predators.
This contributes to the normally smaller size of wild Blanding's turtles.
Like most indeterminate growers, the noticeable difference in growth lowers over the years.
Blanding's turtles take 18 to 22 years before they are ready to reproduce.
This allows protected Blanding's turtles to age at a slower speed and live to reach their early eighties.
15. American Bison
The American bison is another mammal that never stops growing.
It is not common for mammals to have indeterminate growth, but the American bison is one of the few.
These massive creatures are the largest mammals in North America.
American bison are born weighing anywhere from 30 to 70 pounds.
Females will normally grow up to be four to five feet tall and weigh 1,000 pounds.
Males will weigh double what the females do and will be at least six feet tall.
It takes American bison their entire lives to gain all the possible weight.
While hunting in the 1800s almost made the American bison go extinct, populations have gone past 10,000 bison.
16. Lungfish
The lungfish is a living fossil that continues growing if it is given space and opportunity.
The average lungfish may only be 10 pounds, but some lungfish have been seen as vastly larger.
These fish are over three feet long.
These fish are as strange as their name.
In the water, their long, thin bodies are often mistaken for eels.
When water levels are low, the lungfish can live in the mud because they get 90% of their oxygen from the air.
17. Labord's Chameleon
Labord's chameleons may not live for a long time, but they are growing the entire time they're alive.
These chameleons will typically only live a few months, which is just long enough to breed.
After the breeding season, there aren't many Labord's chameleons left alive.
It is often a miracle if the chameleon lives to see a second breeding season.
According to studies on the lifespans of Labord's chameleons, females tend to live longer than males.
18. Reticulated Python
Reticulated pythons are the longest species of snake and will continue growing slowly their entire life.
These pythons will grow bit by bit with each shedding of their skin.
On average, reticulated pythons are 20 feet in length, but they can grow to be larger.
The largest reticulated python was found in 1912 and was almost 32 feet long.
These massive snakes are not afraid to eat humans, but they normally eat pigs, deer, primates, and even pets like cats and dogs.
19. Komodo Dragon
Komodo dragons are the largest living lizards on the planet.
The size difference between wild Komodo dragons and those that are kept in captivity is shocking.
The average wild Komodo dragon weighs 154 pounds, but they have managed to grow to 366 pounds and 10.3 feet in length.
Komodo dragons live for about 30 years, growing in length the entire time.
Scientists are still studying the true potential of the Komodo dragon's lifespan.
20. Tuatara
The tuatara is living fossils that are native to New Zealand.
The group of lizards that the tuatara is part of has been around since the dinosaurs.
Although they only have an average lifespan of 60 years, tuatara are able to live for 100 years.
Tuatara never stops growing, but they grow quite slowly.
The average adult male tuatara is 24 inches while an adult female is only 18 inches.
It is not uncommon to find older tuatara that is at least 32 inches.
21. Coral
Although it is more commonly thought to be a plant, coral is an animal that has indeterminate growth.
In the right conditions, coral can grow to massive sizes, as seen at the Great Coral Reef in Australia.
Coral starts off as larvae.
They begin to grow as soon as they attach themselves to a sturdy surface.
The coral grows until the day that it dies.
The size of a coral reef can often determine its age.
Coral can grow one to eight inches each year.
22. Yellow-Legged Frog
The yellow-legged frog is an endangered species of frog that can grow to massive sizes, if it survives the wild environment it lives in.
Before they grow into frogs, they start as tadpoles that can get as large as 2.8 inches.
These yellow-legged frogs live in the ponds, marshes, streams, and meadows that are 4,500 to 12,000 feet above water level.
These frogs are often eaten by snakes and birds but are also responding negatively to climate change.
23. Desert Turtle
The desert turtle is a skittish turtle that spends 95% of its life underground.
These turtles are only found in the Mojave and the Sonoran Deserts.
These threatened species of turtles are prone to get in the way of military training drills that happen in the Mojave.
The soldiers have to go move them gently before being able to continue their drills.
The average desert turtle is about 15 inches in length and can live to be 50 years old.
However, they are able to live much longer in captivity and continue to grow at a slow rate.
The largest desert turtle was 17 inches in length and weighed 26 pounds.
24. Cottonmouth
The last snake on this list is the cottonmouth, which is also known as the water moccasin.
These deep brown snakes are able to blend in with the dried evergreen pines that coat the waters they like to skate across.
While the average cottonmouth snake is two to four feet long, older cottonmouths are often found to be much larger.
These snakes are opportunistic eaters and will make a meal out of anything they can sink their teeth into.
These venomous snakes can have a lethal effect on humans if the wound isn't treated.
Those who are bitten by cottonmouth snakes may have a rapid rise in their heart rate, a metallic or minty taste in their mouth, and other signs of shock.
25. Chinese Giant Salamander
Chinese giant salamanders are the longest-living amphibians and are able to grow the entire time.
On average, Chinese giant salamanders will grow to be about 3.7 feet and can weigh up to 110 pounds.
However, older Chinese giant salamanders have been able to grow to over six feet in length.
After years of these animals being hunted down for meat, they have become a severely threatened species.
These massive creatures start out as larvae and never stop growing.
Source: https://www.thecoldwire.com/animals-that-never-stop-growing/