What kind of creature am I?

Question

I'm a strange creature,
Often misunderstood and moody,
I come in 2 'types',

A vast majority of my kind is part of the first type,
Energetic, enthusiastic and eager to learn
With this type comes short lives,
A decade at most,
But almost all of these will make it far enough for them to ripen and change flavor.

A tiny minority amongst us, 'type 2'
less than one in a thousand, is fundamentally different,
relatively well grounded and more mature, Even as young they feel superior, for they live lives far richer and longer,
Most of these live up to thirty years, some even up to forty.

Now the odd thing is that amongst these long lived type twos, less of them will ripen and change flavor then of the first type. Altough some will try to claim that they were born with the right flavor already. But I insist that's not how it should work.

So what kind of creature are we describing,and what are the 2 'types'?

I figured i'd start giving out some hints, will add a few every 24h :P

hint 1

Some of these, regardless of type, would be offended if you called them a creature, prefering something that sounds a bit more civilized.

hint 2

Type 2 actually occurs 1 in 1506, altough most falsely estimate it to be 1 in 1461.

I'd like to add, like I did in the comments, that if you have the right answer, you will know it. (And perhaps develop an urge to hit me)

Answer 1

From your clues,

1:1461 and 1:1506 are ratios attributed to the chance of being born on a Leap Day (i.e., February 29th),

I'm gonna say the answer is

Teenagers.

Because

People are teens (depending on your definition) somewhere in the range of age 10 to age 20 (technically 13-19, since those are the numbers with "teen" in them). Thus, their "lifespan" (as teens) is a decade or less. People born on a Leap Day ("type 2") only celebrate their birthdays once every four years, and don't even become teens (by that logic) until they are actually 40 or 44, and—again, by that logic—remain teens until they are 80.

Those in the non-Leap-Birthday group ("type 1") start their teenhood younger, and change more (mentally, but moreso physically) in those years. Those in the latter group have already gone through many of the changes mentally and all of the changes physically once they reach their Leap-teenhood.

Answer 2

My guess is

B cells

Type one

Plasma cells, which are eager to "learn" how to fight intruders

Type two

Memory B cells, which create long lasting immunity

The "ripening and maturing"

obviously happens after differentiation, so probably the activation of the B cells? Not so sure about this one.

I am not certain about the actual life span involved, but Type 2 is certainly much longer lived than Type 1. Although literal 10 years sounds unlikely for the type 1 in my guess.

Answer 3

It could be:

Ants - split into queens and workers. The ages and proportions match roughly.

Alternatively:

Something about jobs and education? Not so confident!

Answer 4

I'll venture a speculation that, while not a full answer, may give another puzzler some ideas if I happen to be on the right track. I'm not familiar enough to know the specifics, but perhaps someone else is...? (Edit: Never mind, apparently I'm off the mark!)

I think the answer might be

a kind of fine alcohol.

I'm a strange creature,
Often misunderstood and moody,

This particular drink might be perceived as being for a certain type of moody person (the drunk or the recluse, or stiff high society). Alternatively, alcohol makes people moody.

I come in 2 'types',

Perhaps the two types are distinguished by base ingredients, as with (for instance) malt versus grain whiskey. Or, it could be a difference of process.

A vast majority of my kind is part of the first type,

Most alcohol is the relatively cheaper variety.

Energetic, enthusiastic and eager to learn

Bubbly, perhaps, or this might be a description of its flavor. Eager to learn might mean it adopts the flavors of its cask.

With this type comes short lives,
A decade at most,

This would be the length of the aging process.

But almost all of these will make it far enough for them to ripen and change flavor.

They are "eager to learn" and quickly change flavor as they age.

A tiny minority amongst us, 'type 2'
less than one in a thousand, is fundamentally different,
relatively well grounded and more mature, Even as young they feel superior,

The superior alcohol is more expensive and less often produced, but is innately better quality from the start.

for they live lives far richer and longer,
Most of these live up to thirty years, some even up to forty.

This kind is best/worth more if aged longer, so the aging process is usually lengthy.

Now the odd thing is that amongst these long lived type twos, less of them will ripen and change flavor then of the first type. Although some will try to claim that they were born with the right flavor already. But I insist that's not how it should work.

This type might subtly increase in quality as it ages, but it does not necessarily absorb new flavors (depending on the method used?). There is some debate over whether this leads to a better result, or if it should in fact be aged in such a way that the flavor profile changes.

And of course, as a final clue, there's the OP's screen name... ;)

Answer 5

Isotopes of Uranium (or some other element)?

Answer 6

I actually think I got the right idea:

Cheese! I don't know too much about the different types of cheese but this could definitely be true if you ask me.

If that is not the case then:

I have thought about horse/mule but that would include a donkey too, I also thought about lemons, they can be green or yellow but I can't really get all of it to match up. Then I thought of bees, but they don't seem to match up with their life expectancy. I think that there's a big chance that it's a kind of animal/fruit but I can't figure out which.

edit:

New try!

Toad / Frog

AHA! I GOT IT NOW

Peafowl!