In the essay
Aman (Myths Transformed, Morgoth's Ring) it is said there were:
Quote:
'... a great multitude of creatures, without fear, of many kinds: animals or moving creatures, and plants that are steadfast. There, it is believed, were the counterparts of all the creatures that are or have been on Earth, and others also that were made for Aman only. And each kind had, as on earth, its own nature and natural speed of growth.'
'... all those creatures that were thither transplanted or were trained or bred or brought into being for the purposes of inhabitation in Aman were given a speed of growth such that one year of the life natural to their kinds on earth should in Aman be one Valian Year.'
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In this text 1 Valian Year = 144 Sun Years. I take this to mean that one year of growth for a newborn puppy, for example, will take 144 years in Aman (thus a Man would live out his whole life in less time). And that if a dog usually lives 15 years in Middle-earth, it will live 15 Valian Years in Aman. It could not get sick, for it was also said:
'For in Aman no creature suffered any sickness or disorder of their natures; nor was there any decay or ageing more swift than the slow ageing of Arda itself.'
It's noted that the Valian Year was assigned by the Valar for their own purposes, and was
'... related to that process which may be called the 'Ageing of Arda'. For Aman was within Arda and therefore within the time of Arda (which is not eternal, whether Unmarred of Marred). Therefore Arda and all things in it must age, however slowly, as it proceeds from beginning to end. This ageing could be perceived by the Valar in about the length of time (proportionate to the whole of Arda's appointed span) which they called a year; but not in a less period.' After the section above concerning the speed of growth of the creatures of Aman, it was said...
'For the Eldar this was a source of joy, for in Aman the world appeared to them as it does to Men on Earth, but without the shadow of death soon to come. Whereas on Earth to them all things in comparison with themselves were fleeting, swift to change and die or pass away, in Aman they endured and did not so soon cheat love with their mortality. On Earth while an Elf-child did but grow to be a man or woman, in some 3000 years, forests would rise and fall, and all the face of the land would change, while birds and flowers innumerable would be born and die in loar upon loar under the wheeling Sun.'
I might be wrong, but I interpret this to mean that there was death in Aman, but it did not 'so soon' cheat love and etc, as the rate of growth and change was in better accord with the Elves. Full context of the essay is best in any case. As Legolas noted after leaving Lorien, time was constant, but growth and change is not the same in all places (or something like that, referring to his words as the Company spoke about Lorien due to Sam's confusion).