The below entry is taken from Houghtaling's Handbook ©1887. Please note, these are the years that were written in the book, I find it odd that they thought whales lived to be a thousand years old.
Years of Ave which various Animals attain.
Whale, is said to live 1000
Elephant . . . 400
Swan . . .300
Tortoise . . . 100
Eagle . . . 100
Raven . . .100
Camel . . .100
Lion . . . 70
Porpoise . . . 30
Horse . . .25 to 30
Bear . . . 20
Cow . . .20
Deer . . . 20
Pigs . . . 20
Cat . . . 15
Fox . . .15
Dog . . . 20
Sheep . . . 10
Rabbit . . . 7
Squirrel . . . 8
I definitely feel like mythology is partly involved. 1000 years for a whale...300 years for a swan...it just seems like these animals either weren't studied or folklore influenced these numbers. The smaller the year, the more reasonable the numbers seem. Whales, elephants, swans, ravens all have folklore and/or superstitions involved. While it might not have been a consciously influencing the author, perhaps these myths were used when science had not yet studied the creatures.
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