Researchers studied the lifespans of 500,000 dogs to determine which species live the longest. The answer? Whippets, or dogs shaped like whippets. Research indicates that small dogs with long noses have an average lifespan of 13.3 years (source).
Another study looked at data from over 580,000 individual dogs in the UK, classified as purebreds or mixed breeds, to find out more about the lifespan of different dog breeds.
In addition to breed, the researchers collected data on the dogs’ sex, date of birth, and, if applicable, date of death. This data helped determine mortality rates as well as calculate the median life expectancy for different categories of dogs.
The study found that small, long-nosed dogs have the highest average lifespan at 13.3 years. Conversely, medium-sized short-nosed dogs, especially males, had the shortest average lifespan at 9.1 years.
Interestingly, purebred dogs generally lived longer than mixed breeds, and Labradors were found to have the highest life expectancy at 13.1 years.
The researchers hope that these results will help dog owners better understand the factors that influence their pets’ health and longevity, and they also suggest that future studies should investigate designer breeds due to their different genetic diversity levels.
Dr. Kirsten McMillan, one of the authors of the study, believes that future research should not simply classify dog breeding into pure and mixed categories and emphasizes that this is a complex issue.
Dr. Kirsten McMillan is a DataSEA (Science Engineering and Analysis) Manager at Dogs Trust, and her research has been published in various scientific journals.
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Source: www.sciencefocus.com
