[extropy-chat] Polly "Charlie"- Churchill's parrot

[Extropian Agroforestry Ventures Inc.]

Winston Churchill died in 1965. his purported Potty mouthed "F***k the
Nazies" parrot is still alive and well at 104 or so.

With parrots able to live to 225 I don't remember a great deal of work
being done to
determine what makes this so, how it differs from similar birds and
humans.


1: J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2001 Nov;
                  56(11): B468-74.

                       Exceptional cellular resistance to oxidative
damage in
                       long-lived birds requires active gene expression.

                       Ogburn CE, Carlberg K, Ottinger MA, Holmes DJ,
Martin GM,
                       Austad SN.

                       Department of Pathology, University of
Washington, Seattle, USA.

                       Previous studies indicated that renal tubular
epithelial cells from some
                       long-lived avian species exhibit robust and/or
unique protective
                       mechanisms against oxidative stress relative to
murine cells. Here we
                       extend these studies to investigate the response
of primary embryonic
                       fibroblast-like cells to oxidative challenge in
long- and short-lived avian
                       species (budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus,
longevity up to 20 years,
                       vs Japanese quail, Coturnix coturnix japonica,
longevity up to 5 years)
                       and short- and long-lived mammalian species
(house mouse, Mus
                       musculus, longevity up to 4 years vs humans, Homo
sapiens, longevity
                       up to 122 years). Under the conditions of our
assay, the
                       oxidative-damage resistance phenotype appears to
be associated with
                       exceptional longevity in avian species, but not
in mammals.
                       Furthermore, the extreme oxidative damage
resistance phenotype
                       observed in a long-lived bird requires active
gene transcription and
                       translation, suggesting that specific gene
products may have evolved in
                       long-lived birds to facilitate resistance to
oxidative stress.