Tuesday, October 30, 2007

This is the World's Oldest Living Animal


The researchers aren't sure why clams of this species live so long but hope to study and find out. They think it's likely there are some 600 year-old clams out there in the water.

And as far as killing the "world's oldest living animal":

"Its death is an unfortunate aspect of this work, but we hope to derive lots of information from it," said Al Wanamaker, a postdoctoral scientist on the university's Arctica team. "For our work it's a bonus, but it wasn't good for this particular animal."


Steve Bodio said...

What about those right-- or was it bowhead-- whales with the stone spear points?

Reid Farmer said...

It was a bowhead whale:


And one of its bones had fragments of a type of whaling lance in use only from 1885-95.

I have heard apocryphal stories for years about old snapping turtles in the South that had musket balls or stone arrowheads embedded in their shells.

mdmnm said...


comatus said...

Good eating though, if you fix them right.

Calombo, Quilombo, Colombo. said...

"Al Wanamaker", cool name!