Immortality has been one of mankind's greatest obsessions. From cryogenic freezing to searching for a mystical fountain of youth, humanity has been seeking for a way to live forever. Meanwhile some animals have been sticking around just doing what animals generally do; eating, pooping, mating, more pooping. And they still outlive us even with our brains and science and technology.
Below are some animals who will probably outlive us:
#1
Glass Sponges:
photo credit
Glass sponges are not made of glass as you may think. Neither is it advisable to wash you dishes with them. Glass sponges are animals, though you may not think of them as animals.
Can you guess how old a glass sponge can live?
500 you say?
700?
Wrong!
Try 15,000.
They are the oldest living things on the planet. these things have been around since before the time of Jesus Christ. What's more, scientists think they evolved their current form 700 million years ago, at which point they stopped evolving and just stayed to watch civilizations rise and fall, probably on a 72" flat screen TV. One of these guys found in the South China Sea was determined to be 11,000 years old, and scientists used the water inside to find out what water temperatures were like in ancient times.
#2
Lobsters:
Animal activists rescued a 20-pound lobster from being served in a restaurant in New York. The lobster was estimated to be 140 years old.
Lobsters don't really age,
in the sense that they don't get weaker. Instead, they just keep getting bigger and
bigger.That's how they can get to be so big as the lobster above. According to The Guinness Book of World Records, the biggest lobster ever caught was a 44-pound colossus that was caught in 1977. Apparently, no one told them there was also a 51.5-pound one caught in Maine in 1926. How old were those dudes? No one really knows.
The most amazing part is that lobsters don't suffer through their old age like we do. As they keep get older, they actually get more powerful. When they grow so big that their shells can no longer contain them, they simply shed it and grow a new one. Scientists believe that lobsters actually get hornier and more fertile the older they are.
#3
Turtles:
Turtles can live for centuries. A juvenile turtle is biologically similar to one that is ancient.Scientists poking around in a turtle that was centuries old were astounded to find that its organs were virtually "indistinguishable from those of its teenage counterpart." Biologically, the turtle hadn't aged a day since hitting sexual maturity, a phenomenon scientists have dubbed "The Don Draper Effect."
Researchers also discovered that a turtles heartbeat isn't controlled by nerve impulses as it is with other animals. In fact, turtles can shut down their heart when they need to. And then restart it, just like sticking a key into a car ignition and turning the car on and then speeding off at an amazing speed of 3mph.
This research has led scientists to believe that turtles never die of old age. Its always a disease or as a result of human activities or predation or attack by Master Shredder.
#4
Bdelloids:
We're certain that most of our readers have never heard of bdelloids. Neither have we, before writing this post. Bdelloids are a type of microscopic organism that live in fresh water, yet can survive out of water for years. As a species they haven't had sex in about 80 million years but still survive to this day, and will probably still be alive after humans have varnished from the earth.
They keep their genetic material fresh by stealing it from other species, naturally. Scientists believe that organisms cannot survive for very long by reproducing asexually but bdelloids have proven then wrong. When they analyzed their DNA, scientists found out that a single bdelloid had DNA from more than 500 different species. They incorporate DNA from dead animals in their surroundings into to their own. This may also be the reason why they are able to survive situations where other organisms would die off, like being dehydrated for up to nine years, and being exposed to radiation of about 1000 Gy before becoming infertile (note: still not dead, just not able to reproduce) which is about 250 times what a human can handle before dying (note: dying completely, including not being able to reproduce, though we can't prove if ghosts reproduce or not).
photo credit
Their distant relatives, the relatively well known planaria are tiny worm-like creatures and also have these qualities. cut their head off with a knife and they just re-grow another one.
#5
Clams:
Clams are another species that get bigger as they get older. In 1934 a native diver in the Philippine Islands was trapped by a monster clam when he tried to reach for an over-sized 14-pound pearl. The clam, possible enraged by this effrontery, held tight to the guy and he died. The natives said that the clam was around 450years old and this made everybody laugh. Now scientists have proven that these things can live for up to 500 years. Another clam found in Icelandic waters in 2007 has been determined to be 405 years old.
Certainly, there are other clams that are much older than these out there in the oceans. Their incredibly long lifespan is linked to what scientists describe as a "slowed cell replacement process," but as of yet, they have no idea what makes them age at such a slow rate.
Below are some animals who will probably outlive us:
#1
Glass Sponges:
Glass sponges are not made of glass as you may think. Neither is it advisable to wash you dishes with them. Glass sponges are animals, though you may not think of them as animals.
Can you guess how old a glass sponge can live?
500 you say?
700?
Wrong!
Try 15,000.
They are the oldest living things on the planet. these things have been around since before the time of Jesus Christ. What's more, scientists think they evolved their current form 700 million years ago, at which point they stopped evolving and just stayed to watch civilizations rise and fall, probably on a 72" flat screen TV. One of these guys found in the South China Sea was determined to be 11,000 years old, and scientists used the water inside to find out what water temperatures were like in ancient times.
#2
Lobsters:
Animal activists rescued a 20-pound lobster from being served in a restaurant in New York. The lobster was estimated to be 140 years old.
The most amazing part is that lobsters don't suffer through their old age like we do. As they keep get older, they actually get more powerful. When they grow so big that their shells can no longer contain them, they simply shed it and grow a new one. Scientists believe that lobsters actually get hornier and more fertile the older they are.
#3
Turtles:
Turtles can live for centuries. A juvenile turtle is biologically similar to one that is ancient.Scientists poking around in a turtle that was centuries old were astounded to find that its organs were virtually "indistinguishable from those of its teenage counterpart." Biologically, the turtle hadn't aged a day since hitting sexual maturity, a phenomenon scientists have dubbed "The Don Draper Effect."
Researchers also discovered that a turtles heartbeat isn't controlled by nerve impulses as it is with other animals. In fact, turtles can shut down their heart when they need to. And then restart it, just like sticking a key into a car ignition and turning the car on and then speeding off at an amazing speed of 3mph.
This research has led scientists to believe that turtles never die of old age. Its always a disease or as a result of human activities or predation or attack by Master Shredder.
#4
Bdelloids:
We're certain that most of our readers have never heard of bdelloids. Neither have we, before writing this post. Bdelloids are a type of microscopic organism that live in fresh water, yet can survive out of water for years. As a species they haven't had sex in about 80 million years but still survive to this day, and will probably still be alive after humans have varnished from the earth.
They keep their genetic material fresh by stealing it from other species, naturally. Scientists believe that organisms cannot survive for very long by reproducing asexually but bdelloids have proven then wrong. When they analyzed their DNA, scientists found out that a single bdelloid had DNA from more than 500 different species. They incorporate DNA from dead animals in their surroundings into to their own. This may also be the reason why they are able to survive situations where other organisms would die off, like being dehydrated for up to nine years, and being exposed to radiation of about 1000 Gy before becoming infertile (note: still not dead, just not able to reproduce) which is about 250 times what a human can handle before dying (note: dying completely, including not being able to reproduce, though we can't prove if ghosts reproduce or not).
Their distant relatives, the relatively well known planaria are tiny worm-like creatures and also have these qualities. cut their head off with a knife and they just re-grow another one.
#5
Clams:
Clams are another species that get bigger as they get older. In 1934 a native diver in the Philippine Islands was trapped by a monster clam when he tried to reach for an over-sized 14-pound pearl. The clam, possible enraged by this effrontery, held tight to the guy and he died. The natives said that the clam was around 450years old and this made everybody laugh. Now scientists have proven that these things can live for up to 500 years. Another clam found in Icelandic waters in 2007 has been determined to be 405 years old.
Certainly, there are other clams that are much older than these out there in the oceans. Their incredibly long lifespan is linked to what scientists describe as a "slowed cell replacement process," but as of yet, they have no idea what makes them age at such a slow rate.
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