Animal Talents & Superpowers

The goofy-looking naked mole rat may never come top in the beauty stakes but it has many exceptional traits, including an extremely long lifespan compared to mice, rats and other fellow rodents. This may be partly due to a variant of a key immune protein that boosts DNA repair. These animals also cope with very low oxygen, are highly tolerant of pain and have a strong resistance to cancer, all of which have attracted the interest of scientists aiming to develop human medicines and therapies. The mole rats are also able to breed throughout their life, which might offer clues to prolonging human fertility. A little perversely, perhaps, they live in large colonies with a queen who suppresses the ability of the other females to reproduce until her reign has ended. When this moment finally comes, the other females fight for it and the winner is the new queen.

Many invertebrates, including some bees and scorpions, reproduce asexually. In the case of aphids – blackfly, greenfly – flightless females breed profusely, giving birth without male involvement to female offspring who may already be pregnant. The phenomenon of parthenogenesis (virgin births) also occurs in vertebrates, such as Komodo dragons and hammerhead sharks. With female-only species, every adult member can produce offspring, while in some birds, reptiles and fish, females have both male and female sex chromosomes and so can theoretically produce both sons and daughters by parthenogenesis.

Among some egg-laying fish, frogs and reptiles, the young may be anatomically male and genetically female, or vice versa, depending on whether the eggs are exposed to warm or cool environments. The spotted snow skink (a Tasmanian lizard) is the only known non-egg-laying animal that gives birth to live young and has been found to switch sex from female to male before birth in response to a cooler external temperature. This sex reversal has not yet been observed in the other direction, male to female in warmer temperatures.

Present-day humans are relatively long lived compared to other primates, such as the chimp and orangutan, who can live up to 50 and 55 years respectively in the wild. Our life expectancy, however, is dwarfed by many other species across very different habitats, with some sea creatures performing particularly well. The multitude of special and unique abilities demonstrated by a wide range of long-lived animals are being closely studied by researchers for ideas as to how to prevent or treat life-limiting human diseases and perhaps extend human life.

The quiet and little-known ocean quahog is a type of clam that has the ability to protect its proteins from damage, which is thought to be why it can live to 500. Understanding how this mechanism works could potentially lead to treatments for age-related diseases, like Alzheimer’s, that are caused by damaging protein activity within the brain. The longevity prize for vertebrate animals goes to the Greenland shark, which reaches sexual maturity at around 150 and may live to 400, although scientific opinion differs on the age limit. The most long-lived mammal, also found in the Arctic, is the bowhead whale, which scientists think may live to over 200. Other whales also do well in the longevity stakes, while the giant tortoise often lives to over 100 and one well-known individual thought to have hatched in 1832 has recently reached its 190^th birthday. The longevity of this species may be due to its slow metabolism and heartbeat. Among birds, the kakapo, a parrot endemic to New Zealand and now surviving as a tiny population, is thought to be the longest-lived example, attaining 90-100 years.

Beyond conventional mortality, scientists have been unlocking the secrets of a jellyfish called Turritopsis dohrnii, which is smaller than a human fingernail. It is able to rejuvenate itself continually in response to stress, physical damage or sickness, re-absorbing its tentacles and shrinking its body to return to its polyp stage on the seafloor, then spouting new tentacles that grow and mature again, repeating its lifecycle. Researchers have identified specific genetic variations that contribute to the jellyfish’s superpower. These genes are associated with known features of healthy ageing and the discovery might help to find future treatments for age-related diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Regeneration of body parts is another area of huge interest to biologists and health scientists. First in line is the axolotl, an aquatic salamander capable of regrowing its limbs, as well as its spinal cord, heart and other organs. When a limb is damaged or lost, stem cells gather at the end of the remaining limb, extending it and allowing for the creation of muscle skin and cartilage. As the stem cells extend, the new cartilage turns into bone, completing the regrowth process.

Other animals possessing regenerative abilities include some types of starfish that grow new bodies from severed limbs, having no blood or brain and all the vital organs they need located in each of their arms. Green iguanas will remove their tail when they feel threatened and both the river-dwelling Mexican tetra fish and the zebrafish can regenerate damaged heart tissue. Zebrafish have proved useful in modelling certain human conditions and diseases, including some types of cancer, and have been sent out into space for research purposes. The flatworm has very powerful, pluripotent stem cells that allow it to regrow an entire body from a single part, creating a clone of the original worm.

Also on the list for regenerative superpowers are chameleons (growing back tails, limbs and other parts, as well as changing colour), sea slugs (regenerating entire bodies from their heads) and octopuses (regrowing tentacles to create a better version than the original, unlike the versions grown by reptiles, which are inferior to the original). There is also a mollusc, the apple snail, which is able to regrow its eyes, most likely due to a gene that is also found in humans. As with all vertebrates as well as spiders, squid and some other snails, it has a camera-type eyeball similar to humans, but it is the only such creature where the eye is known to regenerate – although the capacity for sight in the new eye is still being studied.

The octopus, along with its fellow cephalopods the cuttlefish and the squid, is known for its complex form of intelligence. It has a widely distributed nervous system, with a significant proportion of its 500 million-odd neurons spread throughout its arms. Each arm is able to make independent decisions, gathering sensory information to drive its movements and acting as if it contains a mini brain. The decentralised coordination may be facilitated by the intramuscular nerve cords. Genetic research is highlighting similarities between octopus brain systems and those of vertebrates, including humans.

Among land animals, elephants have the biggest brain, weighing some 10.5 pounds and containing 257 billion neurons – around three times the widely accepted number estimated for the human brain. Under the guidance of a matriarch, they have a sophisticated system of communication, such as group negotiation on which route to take next, and they display a range of familiar emotions, such as empathy, grief, humour and compassion. Their memories are legendary and they can remember specific individuals and places such as the location of water sources for decades. They also possess the exceptional ability to ‘hear’ through their feet by detecting seismic vibrations, enabling them to detect things such as other elephant herds or distant thunderstorms.

The not-so-humble pigeon has to be included here, not least because pigeons are the forerunners of Cyril and his fellow cybirds in the Lifespinners novel. There are more than 300 species of wild pigeon, many of them very beautiful, and they have huge talents, including extraordinary sight and hearing. While many people think of feral city pigeons as unwelcome vermin, they have an illustrious history. Their role in long distance communication traces back to ancient civilisations, when they signified great wealth and power. Even today, a racing pigeon has recently sold at auction for around $1.9 million.

The pigeon’s supreme navigation skills depend on a combination of scent, key landmarks, the Earth’s magnetic field and infrasound (sound waves with a frequency too low for humans to hear). They were used intensively during the first and second world wars to deliver vital messages and fly with cameras on reconnaissance missions, and they have also played a valiant role in finding and rescuing drowning sailors and passengers after shipwrecks at sea. The perfect creature, then, to have morphed into a highly valued cybird living and working with humans in the futorical world of Wellowfern in 2048.

Edited November 2025