Native American oral tradition contains stories of sturgeon living for centuries. While this was largely seen as folklore among conventional scientists, a new study shows that lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) in the Great Lakes area can live over 200 years, with some approaching 300 years.^1,2 This means some living lake sturgeon were likely alive at the time of the founding of the United States of America, 250 years ago!

Traditionally, biologists have estimated a sturgeon’s age by counting growth rings in the spines of their fins. However, counting the growth rings in older specimens is harder because the spacing between growth rings becomes narrower and narrower as the fish ages. So, to get a more accurate age estimate, biologists from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Michigan State University analyzed 44 years of growth records from tagged lake sturgeon.¹

This research should be of particular interest to creationists for two reasons. First, lake sturgeon are an example of a large animal that takes a long time to mature. Larger animals tend to live longer than smaller animals, as do animals that take a long time to reach adulthood.³ If the biblical record of extreme human longevity in the past is true (Genesis 5 and 11), one might expect animals that also lived in the past (i.e., fossils) to show indications of very long lifespans as well.⁴ This is because it is difficult to imagine factors that would promote extreme human longevity that wouldn’t also promote great animal longevity. Moreover, there is both direct and indirect scientific evidence already published in conventional scientific literature that some fossil creatures had very long lifespans.^5–10 Even in today’s world, a few creatures, like the Great Lakes sturgeon, have centuries-long lifespans.

Second, the new research confirmed traditions of local Native American communities who long believed lake sturgeon could live for centuries.¹ Native American people groups also have many traditions involving the garden of Eden, the Genesis Flood, and the dispersion from the Tower of Babel.¹¹ This is unsurprising if the biblical account is true. Clearly, local histories, including those of Native Americans, should generally be given the benefit of the doubt, especially when the traditions or histories are simple statements of fact not involving mythical or necessarily fantastical elements.

Lake sturgeon aren’t the only thing that Native Americans believed to have lived extraordinarily long. Some tribes have recollections that their ancestors once had much longer lifespans:

They [the Shawnee] suppose their ancestors to have been much more perfect, both in intellectual & bodily formation than the present race.^[12] They were of very large stature, both men and women, attributed in part to their abstinence from sexual intercourse during the early years of life. In those days the men at a hundred years were equal to those of the present race at seventy. A gradual degeneration has at last brought them to their present state and is now working imperceptibly among all the Indian tribes.¹³

That same degeneration—an effect of Adam’s Fall—has been working in all of humanity.

The late lawyer and Native American activist Vine Deloria Jr., despite his general hostility to Christianity, recorded many tribal traditions and beliefs that confirm the earliest chapters of Genesis. He wrote, “Many times Indian elders have told me that in the old days people lived until they were two hundred years old and, while it sounds unlikely, there is no good reason to doubt them.”¹⁴

Note that there is nothing inherently fantastical or unbelievable about these Native American recollections. Accounts of extreme past longevity, as well as records that corroborate the Flood and Babel, are exactly what we should expect, since Genesis is real history, not “mytho-history,” as some Christian apologists claim.¹⁵

References

1. Baisas, L. 300-Year-Old Sturgeon Are Swimming Around the Great Lakes. Popular Science. Posted on popsci.com August 11, 2026, accessed August 13, 2026.
2. Baker, E. A. et al. 2026. Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) Growth and Longevity Estimated from Adult Capture–Mark–Recapture Data. Journal of Fish Biology. 109 (2): 849–863.
3. Calder, W. A. III. 1984. Size, Function, and Life History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
4. Many fossil creatures were very large, including fossil versions of genera that have not gone extinct. See Hebert, J. 2026. Molluscan Methuselahs: Fossil Crassostrea Oysters. Acts & Facts. 55 (4): 14–17.
5. Hebert, J. 2025. Croc Fossils Hint at Extreme Longevity. Acts & Facts. 54 (2): 18.
6. Hebert, J. Giant Fossil Shark Consistent with Extreme Pre-Flood Longevity. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org July 27, 2026, accessed August 13, 2026.
7. Hebert, J. 2026. Did Fossil Birds Live Longer than Today’s Birds? Acts & Facts. 55 (1): 20.
8. Hebert, J. Prolonged 40-Year Growth in T. Rex: Evidence for Pre-Flood Longevity? Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org January 20, 2026, accessed August 13, 2026.
9. Yirka, B. Ancient Squid-Like Creature with Paperclip-Shaped Shell May Have Lived for Hundreds of Years. Phys.org. Posted on phys.org November 5, 2020, accessed August 13, 2026.
10. Baisas, L. Baby Teeth Reveal Surprisingly Long Lifespans of Small Jurassic Mammals. Popular Science. Posted on popsci.com July 24, 2024, accessed August 14, 2026.
11. Liguori, N. 2021. Echoes of Ararat: A Collection of Over 300 Flood Legends from North and South America, vol. 1. Green Forest, AR: Master Books.
12. Creationists reject the concept of “race,” as it is an evolutionary concept.
13. Kinietz, V. and E. W. Voegelin, eds. 1939. Shawnese Traditions: C. C. Trowbridge’s Account. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan University Press, 59.
14. Deloria, V. Jr. 1997. Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact. Lakewood, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 153.
15. Guliuzza, R. J. 2022. Christian Courage Is Imperative. Acts & Facts. 51 (2): 4–6.

* Dr. Hebert is a research scientist at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Texas at Dallas.