Greenland sharks can live for centuries.
Why this sounds fake
Animals feel tied to short lifespans compared with history, so a centuries-old shark sounds fictional.
A shark that may have been alive before entire modern countries existed sounds fictional, so the wording needs care. Scientists estimate that Greenland sharks live at least 250 years and may live for more than 500. Research made them famous as the longest-lived vertebrates known. The exact age of any one shark has uncertainty, but the core fact is strong: these slow, cold-water sharks can survive for centuries. Their cold habitat and slow growth make their timeline feel less like an animal life and more like a historical era. It is biology on a history scale.
The photo makes the timescale land: this living animal can overlap with history, not just biology.
1 discovery explored