I thought I would post a link to this wikipedia page:
In essence when considering what the process of aging is it is worth looking at other organisms. Some individual trees have lived for almost 5,000 years. Some tortoises live beyond 200.
There has been some work done to try to identify why different creatures age in different ways, but it is clear that carbon based life can continue to function for hundreds of years.
The Naked Mole Rat is an interesting species because it has a non gompertz style mortality which was I think confirmed quite recently. This may be because they often stimulate the HIF 1 alpha transcription factor as they move in and out of hypoxic areas/
I think Steven Austad has done some really good work. In the end we are trying to work out what causes age related diseases and what can be done to improve health span. I have my views which I won’t repeat here as I repeat them quite a bit.
The long lived organisms is an important point because it shows that the underlying systems of DNA etc can last a really long time.
It also shows that some small animals live much longer than other ones.
I find Hummingbirds interesting because they expend a really large amount of energy, but live relatively long lives given their size.