Supposedly, each animal gets a billion heart beats during a normal lifetime. From elephant to shrew, the total number of heartbeats an animal has during its life, taken as a proportional to its lifespan, seems consistent. In other words: the bigger the creature, the slower its heart rate, the longer its life. The hearts of smaller creatures beat faster, and their lives are shorter. Do they fit in an equal amount of living? Isaac Asimov wrote an essay about this once.
Supposedly, each animal gets a billion heart beats during a normal lifetime. From elephant to shrew, the total number of heartbeats an animal has during its life, taken as a proportional to its lifespan, seems consistent. In other words: the bigger the creature, the slower its heart rate, the longer its life. The hearts of smaller creatures beat faster, and their lives are shorter. Do they fit in an equal amount of living? Isaac Asimov wrote an essay about this once.