Hey, you hungry? Well, food equals fuel for every living being on Earth. But there are
creatures that can live much longer — or much shorter — than we humans can without
any “refueling.” So make yourself a sandwich and let’s take a look at them!
Giant anteater. Can go without food for just 1 to 3 days, but has to eat about 30,000 insects
per day! Despite its name, it also loves termites, slurping them up with its long tongue.
Kangaroo rat. This small creature can go hungry for up to 4 days, but doesn’t drink water
at all! It gets liquid from food. Giraffe. Can survive without food for up to
7 days. Giraffe’s tongue is so long that it uses it to clean its ears!
Elephant. Can go without food for up to 7 days. Elephants experience complex emotions,
just like we humans do. For example, they can feel happiness or sadness.
Wolf. Can go hungry for up to 10 days. Wolves generally need no more than 7 pounds of food
per day to survive, but they like to get as full as possible, so they can gobble up to
20 pounds in one sitting. Lion. Goes without food for up to 12 days.
Lion males are lazy hunters and let their lionesses do all the job instead.
Tiger. Up to 14 days without food is easy for this massive feline, but when it gets
to feeding at last, it can gorge itself, eating as much as 75 pounds of food in a single sitting.
Rabbit. Although this little furry creature needs as little as 8 oz of food per day, it
can easily last without food at all for longer than a tiger — about 15 days.
Condor. Can hunt for food without actually eating for 15 days. Condors are some of the
largest birds out there, and because of their huge weight they need the help of strong winds
to stay in the air. Domestic cat. Surprisingly, can deal with
hunger for 20 days if there’s enough water for it to drink. Just like humans, cats need
water more than food. Horse. Much like cats, equines can go hungry
for 20 days in a row, but then they need lots of fresh grass to graze on — about 15-20
pounds of it, to be precise. Amoeba. Despite its microscopic size, amoeba
can survive without feeding for 3 weeks. And its food are bacteria and other microscopic
creatures. Axolotl. These weird critters feel pretty
happy without food even for 21 days, and only need a couple of worms to stay this way for
another long period of time. Leopard gecko. Its cold-blooded nature allows
gecko to stay content without eating for a whole month, then munch on several large crickets,
and go on a diet again. Komodo dragon. These lizards are huge, but
can go hungry for a month as well. Still, they usually eat as much as their own weight
in one sitting and then lie in the sun, digesting. Cockroach. They say cockroaches will survive
anything, and no wonder — they can live without food for up to 30 days, and they don’t
even need head for that! Domestic dog. It all depends on the size of
a dog, of course, but a large one can survive for as long as 38 days without any food. It
will need water, though. Spotted salamander. Although it’s smaller
than a leopard gecko, a salamander goes even further when it comes to staying hungry — 40
days is a joke for this lizard. Camel. The ship of the desert, as this proud
animal is often dubbed, can easily deal with a 40-days-long hunger. It stores water and
sustenance as fat in its humps, and fills them again in one go.
Earthworm. These crawlers have no eyes or bones, but they feel okay without food for
50 days in a row. Usually, though, they need half their weight per day to feel satiated.
Human. Given enough water, we can go without food for about 2 months! Nah, come on, I can’t
survive even an hour without checking out the fridge for a snack.
Hedgehog. This curly ball of needles can survive for over two months without sustenance, and
it doesn’t only eat fruit — insects and even small rodents are a large part of a hedgehog’s
diet. Shark. They’re toothy -- they’re scary,
but they only feed when necessary, being able to swim around hungry for 70 days. And they
don’t eat much: 3-7 pounds per day is usually enough for a shark to be content. Just don’t
take the 7 pounds out of me, please! Gila monster. If you haven’t ever heard
of it, relax — neither have I until recently. It’s another lizard that can wave away food
for almost 3 months and only needs 30% of its body mass eaten once per month.
Bear. When hibernating, these animals can sustain themselves on their own fat for over
100 days. But then they constantly hunt for food, eating about 90 pounds of berries, fish,
and meat per day. Emperor penguin. Females lay their eggs and
leave fathers to stay with them, while traveling over 50 miles across the ice. All this time,
about 4 months, neither of them eat anything at all.
Blue whale. The largest animal that ever lived (yes, it’s bigger than both T-Rex and megalodon
shark) can go hungry for up to 5 months, yet it normally gobbles up around 8,000 pounds
of krill! Badger. Small as it is, a humble badger lies
hibernating, just like bears do. This way, it can survive without food for almost half
a year, and then needs just a dozen mice to get full.
Python. Snakes are cold-blooded, like lizards, which helps them feed more rarely. And pythons
also have peculiar feeding habits: they swallow one big animal and then digest it for a while.
Galapagos tortoise. The biggest and oldest tortoises in the world have very slow metabolism,
allowing them to stay hungry for over a year. They can live over a hundred years, though,
so it’s just a moment for them. Spider. Slowly luring prey into its web, a
spider can tolerate hunger for a year and then gorge when the meal is ready.
Scorpion. Just a couple of large crickets once a week, and a scorpion is pretty happy.
If no food is available, well, it can survive for a year no problem.
Salmon. For a fish so big, it eats surprisingly little: just 2-3 ounces per day. And if necessary,
it can easily fast for over a year. Okay, here’s my joke: what did the bear say to
the salmon? Give up? “So, what’s eating you?”
Frog. Some species of these leaping amphibians can deal with a year-and-a-half fasting like
its nothing. They don’t like staying hungry, though.
Tick. Two years without any food is absolutely okay for this tiny creature. It lies in wait
until an animal comes close, then jumps on it and finally eats as long and as much as
it likes. Crocodile. The largest and most ancient reptiles
in the world coexisted with dinosaurs, and that’s probably thanks to how long they
can survive without food: up to 3 years. Lungfish. A fish that has lungs is weird enough,
but a fish that can stay hungry for over 4 years is even more so. Imagine seeing a fish
going out to the shore to bask in the sun! Trogoderma. Sounds like a new soap. But no.
Larvae of these insects can sleep without eating for over 5 years, while adult critters
only live for 5-10 days at most. Olm. These strange creatures are sometimes
call “human fish” because of their pink skin and tiny hands. They only live deep in
underwater caves and can stay without food for 10 years at a time.
Tardigrade. Cockroaches? Ha! Tardigrades can survive the most extreme conditions on the
planet and live happily without food or water for 30 years. Wow! How’s that for survival
skills?
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