Measuring the Greenland shark’s growth rate is challenging because individuals are rarely recaptured. However, one shark tagged in 1936 had only grown 2.3 inches when it reappeared 16 years later.

Normally, an animal can’t grow so old. Over time, declining bodily functions and illnesses like cancer accumulate and take their toll. Yet the Greenland shark seems to defy this pattern ...

What can be the average lifespan of an animal? Questions like these often ... Nielsen and his colleagues found that the estimated age of a Greenland shark was over 272 years, though some models ...