creatures with a lifespan of a year

[dbclemons]

I was re-reading a short story by Poe called "The Island of the Fay," a race he describes as living only for a year, and it caused me to wonder what such a race of creatures would be like.

The Fay in Poe's story are small Fairie-like creatures that live deep in the forest. I'm not interested in visualizing the Fay themselves, exactly; but rather, what would be the condition of any creature that only lived for a year's time. I thought I might look at the lifespan of other real creatures as an example. Most fish, for example, live at least 5 years or more. Insects, on the other hand, I doubt live even as long as a year. Spiders? Birds? I would think they would be small and frail.

Anyway, I can't imagine this race being intelligent, or even industrious, as it would take too much time to be that way, and time would be a precious thing to them.

Any thoughts on what such a race would be like?

-David

[S51]

Well, if you're going to go at this from a scientific perspective, you'd have to consider many other things. How do they reproduce? If sexually, how often? How many children are in a litter? How long does it take for one of them to mature fully? If they're like humans, at what age do they learn to speak? At what age are they sexually viable? At what age do they typically begin to work? Are they hunter/gatherers, do they have agriculture?

In short, it can get very complicated very fast. Frankly I'd rather just admire Poe's story as just that, a wonderful story, than analyze it to death. :smirk:

[Sapphire]

I heard something in a science class that I'm taking that might explain a little bit about that. The reason that many smaller mammals (and I don't know about the heartrate of insects or other non-mammals) have a much shorter lifespan is because of their size, and the fact that their heart beats much faster. There are roughly 3 billion beats in the mammal heart, at least according to my professor, so likely for something to have such a short life, it would have to be quite small, and thus their brains would also be smaller. A race of tiny beings would most likely be quite stupid.

Just a thought!

-Sapph

[DarkZeal]

Is it true that Mayflies only have the life span of a day? That would suck. All you do is screw some other Mayfly and thats like your purpose in life.

[dbclemons]

Interesting points, Sapphire. However, some small creatures are quite smart, or well, clever. Squirrels, for instance. They'll probably not sit dowm and do mathematics, or such. And some large creatures have small brains, as well, not to name names ;) .

-David

[ClocktowerArtworks]

as time is a man-made concept...i would imagine the perception of passing time is relative to your race's natural lifespan. i.e. a day to a mayfly passes as slowly as 80 years to a human. just a thought.

[Sapphire]

There are of course large animals with teeny brains (look at Stegosaurus... brain barely the size of a walnut!), but if there was an animal that was to be very small, there would be limited room for a brain in there. However, yes, squirrels and other small creatures, like rats and birds, can be quite intelligent. But I don't know about the limits of intelligence in relation to brain size, and I imagine a creature would be pretty wee if it's lifespan was only a year, unless it was that short because their lives were extremely full of risks.

Good points!

-Sapph

[SkeletonDog]

Ants...

[Dai]

Originally posted by dbclemons
Interesting points, Sapphire. However, some small creatures are quite smart, or well, clever. Squirrels, for instance. They'll probably not sit dowm and do mathematics, or such. And some large creatures have small brains, as well, not to name names ;) .

-David

Heh, I agree. Maybe time would seem to pass really slowly for a tortoise.:cool: