I have recently found articles and various claims that turtles (Blanding's turtles as an exact example) could possibly live indefinitely. http://discovermagazine.com/2002/jun/featturtle
This is said to be due to the fact that they
don't senesce— deteriorate physically— as they grow old
I am highly skeptical of that claim, and on the other side are links such as this http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/indiana/journeywithnature/blandings-turtles.xml which say they can live up to 70 years (though in the actual article it says 70+)
I realize in the wild that predation, disease, and other causes other than old age could kill turtles, but my question is:
Can blandings turtles die of old age? If so, around what age would this be?