World's Oldest Creature Found & Killed by Scientists Nature World News
go to original December 10, 2013

World's Oldest Animal, 507-Year-Old Clam, Discovered And Killed (Buzz60)

Researchers discovered and subsequently killed the world's oldest living animal, a 507-year-old Arctica islandica bivalve mollusk, or ocean quahog, named Ming.

Taken from the ocean floor near Iceland, Ming was born less than a decade after Columbus sailed to America and well before Copernicus presented his theory that the Earth was not the center of the universe. Unaware of its age, however, the scientists pried it open in order to count the growth rings on its hinge ligament, killing it in the process, according to CBS.

Researchers were astounded to discover that the animal, once thought to live less than 100 years, was centuries old. Even then, however, they underestimated its age, announcing it was roughly 405 years old.

... The latest study is considered more reliable, employing more sophisticated research mechanisms.

Read the rest at Nature World News

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