Why do some animals live to a ripe old age—a Gila monster at the Tel Aviv Zoo, for instance, is well over 40—while their compatriots die young? For snakes and lizards, at least, the answer seems to be to eat more veggies and have less sex, according to a new study published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography. An international group of researchers collected data on 1,014 reptile species and analyzed factors affecting their life spans. The scientists also looked at distribution maps for each species and assessed the temperature, rainfall, and general productivity of each area where the lizards lived.
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