The world's oldest creature was 507 years old. But scientists killed it. - Polidicks

[IMG]http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02733/ming_2733316b.jpg[/IMG] [QUOTE]When scientists inadvertently killed what turned out to be the world’s oldest living creature, it was bad enough. Now, their mistake has been compounded after further research found it was even older – at 507 years.[/QUOTE] [URL]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10447117/Worlds-oldest-creature-was-507...but-scientists-killed-it.html[/URL] Poor Ming the Mollusc - taken too soon.

A life cut tragically short

"Whoops."

wow we could have asked him about christopher columbo and the revolutionary war way to go science

500 years. Lasted longer than the Ming Dynasty in China. [QUOTE]quahog - a type of deep-sea clam - was dredged alive from the bottom of the North Atlantic near Iceland in 2006 by researchers. They then put it in a freezer, as is normal practice, unaware of its age.[/QUOTE] Quahogs must experience alot of seasons.

HAS SCIENCE GONE TOO FAR?

Was expecting a water bear... or maybe a tree because perhaps a very loose definition of a creature would include plantlife.

Some plant colonies have lived even longer than this. For example, [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pando_(tree)] pado[/url] is a single colony of the quaking aspen tree. It's the exact same tree genetically repeated. The roots (the oldest part of the plant) are estimated to be over 80,000 years old.

It was sitting at the bottom when Cortez was kicking the shit out of South America. We've lost a significant amount of history here.

[video=youtube;CKY0_pHU360]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKY0_pHU360[/video] Because embedding doesn't jive with timecode tags, skip to 7:41 for the whole bit (including telling the age of a lobster, relevant to this), or 9:24 for the relevant line: "It's the same thing with all these things. Before they count the legs, they kill it."

[QUOTE=The Aussie;42857780]Some plant colonies have lived even longer than this. For example, [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pando_(tree)"] pado[/URL] is a single colony of the quaking aspen tree. It's the exact same tree genetically repeated. The roots (the oldest part of the plant) are estimated to be over 80,000 years old.[/QUOTE] That is astounding - when I see old monuments and realize that this happened say, 100 or two hundred years ago, it's impressive, but when I see stuff like this or even those fossilized tree trunks that are millions of years old, my eyes just glaze over even trying to comprehend the things that happened in that vast ocean of time. The earth manages to make you feel insignificant in so many ways - your lifespan is but the blink of an eye and looking at the stars, you realize how truly insignificant you are in scale of the universe. [IMG]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MKDacXZ1Gjw/TyTwVGq7XnI/AAAAAAAAAEc/T08Cii843pw/s1600/calvin.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=NO ONE;42857752]Was expecting a water bear... or maybe a tree because perhaps a very loose definition of a creature would include plantlife.[/QUOTE] haven't we seen trees far far older than that?

[QUOTE=J!NX;42857869]haven't we seen trees far far older than that?[/QUOTE] 5000 years.

[QUOTE=Rangergxi;42857888]5000 years.[/QUOTE] so this is the oldest [B]nonplant creature[/B] that was alive. Not the oldest creature period.

merge♥ Some shit is Biologically immortality, only being killed by accidents/injuries, etc. mostly plants.

[QUOTE=The Aussie;42857780]Some plant colonies have lived even longer than this. For example, [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pando_(tree)] pado[/url] is a single colony of the quaking aspen tree. It's the exact same tree genetically repeated. The roots (the oldest part of the plant) are estimated to be over 80,000 years old.[/QUOTE] That's awesomely terrifying. There's also debates about it being older than that.

congrats to the [I]new[/I] oldest creature, you made it

[QUOTE=Rangergxi;42857910]Some shit is [U]Biologically immortality[/U], only being killed by accidents/injuries, etc.[/QUOTE] example [url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/29/immortal-jellyfish-lives-forever-reverts-stage-life_n_2207583.html[/url]

[QUOTE=J!NX;42857919]example [url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/29/immortal-jellyfish-lives-forever-reverts-stage-life_n_2207583.html[/url][/QUOTE] I dunno, they're technically right but it's kind of cheating too in my opinion - it's basically ping-ponging it's life stages for all eternity than fully evolving and staying that way until the end of time.

um.. sea sponges have no actual life span, I mean as long as there is food they will live, they just can't date them but I bet some lifeforms from the very bottom of the ocean are much older than this

[QUOTE=snookypookums;42857952]I dunno, they're technically right but it's kind of cheating too in my opinion - it's basically ping-ponging it's life stages for all eternity than fully evolving and staying that way until the end of time.[/QUOTE] respawning better than just enable buddha in console and not really 'cheating' in my eyes [editline]14th November 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Sableye;42857991]um.. sea sponges have no actual life span, I mean as long as there is food they will live, they just can't date them but I bet some lifeforms from the very bottom of the ocean are much older than this[/QUOTE] the ocean is insanely massive and we've not even reached the bottom efficiently so I'd say we have a LOT of shit to still see

also what about those worm colonies from the ocean vents, I thought those guys took like a thousand years to grow or something

[QUOTE=J!NX;42857906]so this is the oldest [B]nonplant creature[/B] that was alive. Not the oldest creature period.[/QUOTE] 'creature' isn't used to denote plantlife, it's usually reserved more for animals and creepycrawlies of varying degrees. You could use 'living organism' to describe a plant though

[QUOTE=Sableye;42858003]also what about those worm colonies from the ocean vents, I thought those guys took like a thousand years to grow or something[/QUOTE] Vent worms are horrifying...

Man. 500 years really doesn't seem like that much either, when you compare it to both a normal human life and, well, the age of anything non-living.

[QUOTE=The Aussie;42857780]Some plant colonies have lived even longer than this. For example, [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pando_(tree)] pado[/url] is a single colony of the quaking aspen tree. It's the exact same tree genetically repeated. The roots (the oldest part of the plant) are estimated to be over 80,000 years old.[/QUOTE] [IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/FallPando02.jpg[/IMG] Technically, that's one tree. That's amazing.

[QUOTE=woolio1;42858017]Vent worms are horrifying...[/QUOTE] Those things are incredibly interesting. Their smoke stack dies and suddenly their whole colony is gone without a trace.

[QUOTE=LSK;42858052][IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/FallPando02.jpg[/IMG] Technically, that's one tree. That's amazing.[/QUOTE] so the tree is like the borg?

[QUOTE=snookypookums;42857863]That is astounding - when I see old monuments and realize that this happened say, 100 or two hundred years ago, it's impressive, but when I see stuff like this or even those fossilized tree trunks that are millions of years old, my eyes just glaze over even trying to comprehend the things that happened in that vast ocean of time. The earth manages to make you feel insignificant in so many ways - your lifespan is but the blink of an eye and looking at the stars, you realize how truly insignificant you are in scale of the universe. [IMG]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MKDacXZ1Gjw/TyTwVGq7XnI/AAAAAAAAAEc/T08Cii843pw/s1600/calvin.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] but... but yolo??!

[QUOTE=Sableye;42858003]also what about those worm colonies from the ocean vents, I thought those guys took like a thousand years to grow or something[/QUOTE] Decided to snoop around: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_tube_worm[/url] This is pretty cool: "It takes from 170 to 250 years for Lamellibrachia luymesi to grow 2 meters in length, and even longer worms have been discovered" Old bastards.