Bu siness skills: b et ter me etings 1 — 21 business englisch bu sin es s e n g L is

bed of kelp
,
Seetangbett
bristlecone pine
[(brIs&lkEUn]
,
Grannen-, Borstenkiefer
dormant
,
inaktiv
endurance
[In(djUErEns]
,
Ausdauer, Widerstands-
fähigkeit
feat 
[fi:t]
,
(große) Leistung, 
Kraftakt
freshwater
,
Süßwasser
giant tortoise
[)dZaIEnt (tO:tEs]
,
Riesenschildkröte
larva 
[(lA:vE]
(
pl.
 larvae 
[(lA:vi:]
)
,
Larve
lifespan
,
Lebensdauer
longevity
[lQn(dZevEti]
,
Langlebigkeit
mayfly
,
Eintagsfliege
Methuselah (tree)
[mE(Tju:zElE]
,
Methusalem-Baum;
hier:
Langlebige Kiefer
microbe 
[(maIkrEUb]
,
[wg. Aussprache]
pupa 
[(pju:pE]
(
pl.
 pupae 
[(pju:pi:]
)
,
Puppe
suspended animation
,
Scheintod, Aussetzen 
von (Vital-)Funktionen
tissue 
[(tISu:]
,
Gewebe
Guinness World 
Records 
lists 
Frenchwoman Jeanne 
Louise Calment as 
the oldest human 
being who ever lived. 
Calment was born on 
21 February 1875 and 
lived to be 122 years 
and 164 days old.
The 
secrets
of a long 
life
 
Woran liegt es, dass 
eine Eintagsfliege 
nur einen Tag lebt, 
Schildkröten so alt wie 
Methusalem werden 
und es in einigen 
Gegenden Kiefern 
gibt, die dort schon 
seit mehreren tausend 
Jahren wachsen? 
Von ROBIN M
C
KIE
ADVANCED
Giant tortoise vs 
mouse: very different 
life expectancies
Fo
tos: ado
gslif
epho
to
, Okt
ay Ort
ak
cio
glu/iS
to
ck
.com

---

18 
Business Spotlight
1/2021
TRENDS
Fo
to: kwikt
or
/iS
to
ck
.com
Differences in longevity
This great variation in lifespans raises a fundamental 
question, however: why do some animals and plants 
live to a very old age while other, similar lifeforms 
spend extremely short times on earth? One of the 
reasons is simple: animals that are prey tend to have 
shorter lives than predators, even though they have 
similar bodyweights. Everything is trying to get 
them, in other words.
This point is illustrated by the examples of the 
mouse and the bat. Both are small mammals, but 
they have very different life expectancies. A mouse is 
lucky to survive a year in the wild and will die within 
three years even if it is kept as a pet. By contrast, most 
bats live until they are around 30 years old, with some 
making it to 50 or more. So, why such a difference?
Part of the answer is simple, says David Clancy of 
Lancaster University. “One has wings, and the oth-
er does not. That means the mouse is prey for many 
different land predators, from cats to humans. By 
contrast, the bat has no real enemies because it can 
always fly from danger.”
However, it is not only the avoidance of predators 
that gives the bat its longevity, adds Clancy. Even 
when there are no predators, a mouse’s lifespan will 
probably still be only a tenth of that of a bat. There is 
a basic difference in the two creatures’ internal pro-
gramming — involving processes such as the repair 
of damaged DNA — that is the reason for the diffe-
rence in longevity.