Editing Maximum life span (section)

{{Short description|Longest recorded life span}}
'''Maximum life span''' (or, for [[humans]], '''maximum reported age at death''') is a measure of the maximum amount of time one or more members of a [[population]] have been observed to [[life|survive]] between [[birth]] and [[death]]. The term can also denote an estimate of the maximum amount of time that a member of a given [[species]] could survive between birth and death, provided circumstances that are optimal to that member's [[longevity]].

Most living species have an upper limit on the number of times [[somatic cell|somatic]] [[Cell (biology)|cells]] not expressing [[telomerase]] can [[mitosis|divide]]. This is called the [[Hayflick limit]], although this number of cell divisions does not strictly control lifespan.